Gods Like Me
by Down By The River
Summary: High school is hard enough, but when your best friend is the son of a vampire and a demigod, demons are hunting you down in your lunch hour, you're trying to get your Glee club to Nationals AND pass AP Physics? Well, that just makes it that much harder. Samcedes AU
1. Episode 1: Are You Sitting Comfortably?

**Episode 1**

'You can't tell anyone.'

Mercedes frowned as she took in Sam's serious expression, her hair flipping about her face and her gold hoop earrings jangling as she shook her head. Sam had known her for a while now, which meant that her answer should have been obvious.

'You told me it was a secret didn't you?'

Sam nodded, but the muscles in his jaw danced with tension.

'Well then, why would I tell anyone?'

Mercedes seemed genuinely perplexed, but Sam didn't want to take any chances. He examined her vitals closely before he allowed himself to accept that the dark-haired girl was telling the truth. Her heartbeat was steady, if a little elevated, her pupils were fixed and she was looking directly at him, not flitting her gaze away like she would if she were lying…

'Ok.'

Sam forced his muscles to relax once he was certain that Mercedes was telling the truth, feeling them all unclench slowly under his skin.

'Ok.' he said again, trying to figure out what the _hell_ he was going to do now that Mercedes knew the truth about him. _Would they be able to go on as normal?_ That was ridiculous, Sam realised, Mercedes knew he was a _demi-God_. How could anything go back to normal after _that_?

Sam still didn't quite understand _how_ Mercedes had come to discover the truth about him. Of all the explanations she could have come up with, _surely_ the truth would have seemed the least likely. He would have arrived at 'Superhero' before the reality, 'Vampire or Werewolf' _maybe_ , but _demi-god_? Nuh-uh. Yet, that was the one she had hit on, and she'd come straight out and asked him too. 'Are you some kind of lower-level God?' she'd said, like it was a perfectly normal thing to ask someone. Sam had been rendered speechless for a good few minutes just from the shock of her accuracy. Impressive didn't even _begin_ to cover it.

'So… will you tell me more?' Mercedes asked tentatively, 'About you? About what you can do?'

Sam sighed and slipped a hand through his hair, wondering how much, if anything, he should tell her. _The truth, the whole truth and nothing but?_ Or a whole load of nothing? Damn it, this was so complicated. Sam could hear the voices of his foster parents echoing in his head, even as he contemplated his dilemma.

 _'Are you_ **sure** _you want to go to school, Samteus? It might be_ dangerous _, Samteus. You'll have to be_ extra careful _, Samteus. Surely it'd be better to let us teach you at home, Samteus?_

Sam had shaken off all their concerns and suggestions with the confidence and assurance only a teenage boy might posses and assured them that he would be _perfectly fine_ surviving at a regular school amongst the mortals. And he had been. Until Mercedes - or rather - until Quinn.

Sam had only been dating Quinn officially for about a month before Mercedes had come along. Sweet, inquisitive Mercedes, who had been so desperate to look out for her best girl Quinn that she'd watched Sam like a hawk, trying to get a measure of his character to see if he was good enough to date her soul sister. Then she'd figured out his secret, something Quinn had failed to do even with all the time they spent together. Mercedes had just _observed_ , and suddenly all his secrets seemed as easy for her to read as a pre-school book. _Sometimes_ , Sam thought wearily as he let out a gusty sigh, p _arents actually **do**_ _know best, even if they're human and their kid's a demi-god._

Mercedes had insisted that he accompany her to the park after school, which had perplexed Sam at first, until Quinn had raised an eyebrow at him and said, in her sweet husky voice.

'Mercedes is my best friend and she wants to scope you out. Humour her.'

Sam had known that when Quinn used that tone of voice it meant that there was no point in arguing, so he'd gone along with it. They had been walking through the crisp autumn leaves with their coats done up against the chill when Mercedes had dropped her knowledge on him and now she was looking expectantly at him, waiting to see if he'd tell her more.

When Sam didn't answer immediately Mercedes seemed to collapse in on herself in doubt, stammering over her words as she tried to assure him that she really didn't expect him to tell her if he didn't want to.

'I mean, it's your secret to tell, right?'

Mercedes' doe eyes widened as she seemed to realise that Sam was a lot more dangerous than she'd been accustomed to believe. She shrank back from him the tiniest amount, but Sam still sensed it, and it hurt more than he would have liked to admit.

He didn't exactly know _why_ he did what he did next, but Sam was opening his mouth and talking before he'd even considered what he was saying.

'It's _our_ secret now, Mercedes.'

'But you don't actually have to tell me anything that you don't want-'

'We're friends right?' Sam cut Mercedes off mid-sentence, which made her shoot him an automatic irritated glare before she wiped the look off her face and nodded, focusing her attention on the pavement underneath her feet as they passed under a canopy of trees. When Sam nudged her gently with his arm she looked up.

'Well,' The blond boy nodded along with her, 'for _one_ , you **have** to stop doing that.'

A look of confusion crossed Mercedes' face as she hugged her arms tighter to her chest and shook her head at him questioningly.

'Doing what?'

'Second guessing your every move with me.'

A small smile danced across Mercedes' face as she considered Sam's words. He was right, of course, she had been doing that since as she'd realised just what he might be capable of.

'I know,' she allowed after a beat, 'it's just, I don't know how to talk to you knowing that you can probably kill me with, like, your pinky finger or something.'

Sam didn't even try to hide the smirk on his face as he looked down at the shorter girl.

'Mercedes, have I tried to kill you before?'

The smile on Mercedes' face grew as she shook her head no.

'Then why would I want to kill you now?' There was a definite note of amusement in Sam's voice as he angled his head down to her.

'Ok, _fine.'_ Mercedes gave Sam a small shove and he stumbled sideways a few steps with a soft chuckle.

'So now _that's_ cleared up.' Sam dropped an arm around Mercedes' shoulders, following the path that curved around the small lake in the centre of the park. 'What is it you wanted to know?'

Mercedes whole face lit up like a shop window at Christmas and Sam bit his lip to keep from grinning, it wasn't really appropriate to the situation, but it was all his body seemed to want to do.

'You'll really tell me?'

Telling her probably wouldn't be the most sensible thing to do, Sam knew that, his Fosters had been stressing the importance of keeping his… _heritage_ … to himself since the very first moment he'd been placed with them. Still, seeing as Mercedes already knew what he was, Sam figured he might as well just tell her everything, anyway. It was actually a relief to have one of his peers know. Having to hide a huge part of who he was from all his friends was exhausting - exhausting and _lonely_.

But now Mercedes knew, and Sam was having a hard time looking on that as a misfortune, although he knew that's what his mortal foster parents would perceive it as. He hadn't told Mercedes on purpose, but he wasn't exactly going to ignore the blessing that had landed in his lap either.

Sam's sage green eyes met Mercedes' chocolate brown ones and he knew that the next moment would be one that there could be no turning back from. If he went through with it - if he told her - then they'd be in it together from this point onwards.

He was about to make Mercedes Jones his Chloe Sullivan.

'You really want to know?' he asked, his eyes searching her face as he watched the girl think seriously about his question. 'You sure?'

They had drawn up to the railing that edged the lake and Sam flopped against it, propping one of his elbows up on the smooth metal bar as he waited for Mercedes to make up her mind. She regarded him thoughtfully in silence, but when Mercedes eventually spoke she said something Sam hadn't been expecting.

'It must be lonely for you, huh?' her voice was soft and low as she moved to settle beside him on the railing.

'I used to think _I_ was lonely, but you…' her voice trailed off as she blinked up at him through heavy lashes, 'you must have had it so much worse. I can't imagine what it must be like keeping such incredible abilities hidden away.'

Sam felt a tell-tale heat pricking behind his eyes, but bit back the tears that were threatening to fall. He was not going to cry, not now. Perhaps later, when he was alone and able to fully process the magnitude of this moment he would allow himself to shed the relieved tears he felt, but not now. _Not now_.

A warm, reassuring pressure settled on Sam's arm and when he looked down he saw Mercedes' small hand settled on the crook of his arm. The contented feeling that flood through Sam's system at Mercedes' gentle smile surprised him, yet he needed no further evidence that the girl standing beside him would hold that position even in the worst of times, he knew it to his very bones, although if anyone had asked him _how_ he knew he'd be hard pressed to tell them. Mercedes was just that person, she would come through for him if he needed her to, just because she was his friend. The thought put a smile on Sam's face as they walked that he saw mirrored in Mercedes' face, although she did her best to hide it from him. He could still tell though, he could see it in the way her cheeks dimpled.

'If you feel comfortable telling me, Sam, then I would love to know.'

Sam blew out a deep breath and watched as the tendrils curled out into the cold, autumnal air and dissipated slowly, he pushed away from the railing and dusted his hands on his jeans. A stray strand of blond hair fell into his eyes and he flipped it out of the way before he turned back to his pretty companion with raised eyebrows. They looked at each other for a pregnant moment before Sam extended a large hand out towards her. After the briefest of hesitations, he felt Mercedes small, warm fingers curl around his.

'Then let's get comfortable.' Sam insisted as he tugged her good-naturedly in the direction of his house, 'Because this is kind of a long story.'


	2. Episode 2: The Greek System

**Episode 2**

'So… You've probably guessed by now that my "parents"' Sam made little air quotes as he said the word 'parents', 'are not my _actual_ parents.'

Mercedes nodded and he went on, 'But I should probably warn you that my _godhood_ , man that feels weird to say, it's not inherited from where you'd expect…'

Mercedes bounced up and down on Sam's living room couch.

'Ooh! Can I guess?'

Sam shot her an incredulous look.

'You won't guess.'

That was probably the absolute worst thing to say to Mercedes, because she raised an eyebrow at him in a way that said ' _challenge accepted'_ more effectively than that little stick figure on the internet and Sam knew that the girl was now going to try her damnedest to prove him wrong.

'Father or mother's side?'

Sam slid an arm over the back of the couch and leaned back against the armrest with one foot crossed over his knee.

'Mother's.'

Mercedes' eyes narrowed as she thought. She seemed to mentally dismiss a few options before she licked her lips and said.

'Athena?'

Sam smirked and shook his head.

'Nope.'

'Sif?'

'She was made up for the comic books.'

Mercedes chewed her lower lip as she considered some more. Sam leaned closer to her, enjoying the sport of watching her try to guess, but Mercedes looked up sharply at the movement and was still for a long moment as she regarded him. Sam had the weirdest sensation that Mercedes was seeing every single particle of him and he found himself praying that she would not find him wanting.

'Aphrodite.'

The smile fell away from Sam's lips as Mercedes kept talking.

'Or Freya? Maybe _Venus_? I know she has a lot of different names, but you know the one I mean right?'

Sam was inches away from Mercedes' face in less time than it took her to draw breath.

 _His eyes were so beautiful_ , Mercedes thought as she stared into them. _Purple was her favourite colour_ , _and Sam's eyes were so purple and glow-y_. Sam's voice was barely a whisper, but he was so close that Mercedes could feel his breath on her lips as he spoke. Part of her was aware that something wasn't quite right about this situation, but she couldn't figure out what it was. All she could think about were Sam's eyes. She was falling into them, losing herself in his bottomless amethyst gaze. Mercedes was aware that she was responding to Sam's words, but she had no idea what she was saying.

'How did you know who my mother was, Mercy?' Sam's voice was low and seductive as his breath ghosted against her mouth.

' _Pheromones_.' The word came out on a moan as Mercedes arched towards him, but Sam made sure to maintain the distance between them.

'What about pheromones, Mercy?'

Sam worked to keep the eye contact with Mercedes in tact, if it was broken then he wouldn't be able to glamour the truth out of her. The fact of it was that, Sam already knew he was playing a dangerous game, he would never have done it if anything but his and his family's safety were at stake. Mercedes had guessed his lineage far too easily for it to sit comfortably with Sam, and he needed to be sure that she wasn't someone planted to cause them harm. He didn't think she was, not at all, actually, but he wasn't prepared to take risks either.

' _I can see yours._ ' Mercedes ran a hand slowly down Sam's arm but he resisted the urge to shiver. He needed to stay focused.

'You can see my pheromones?' Sam clarified and Mercedes nodded.

' _They're pretty_.' she stroked the hand back up his arm, lingering on his collarbone and he swallowed harshly at her touch. 'Lots of pinks and purples, like your eyes.'

Mercedes hand went to his face and stroked his cheek without breaking eye contact with him.

' _You have really pretty…_ ' Her brow furrowed slightly and she shook her head as if something was bothering her, like she would for a fly or a small insect.

'Why do I feel so weird?'

It was Sam's turn to frown. Mercedes shouldn't have been saying anything unless she was answering his questions, and she certainly shouldn't have been able to pose any questions of her own. Her voice had changed too, it was less… _sex kitten Mercedes_ , and more, _regular girl Mercedes._

'Did anyone set you up to talk to me?' Sam asked hastily, worried that his time was about to run out, 'Are you working with anyone?'

He put a little extra push into those last two questions, because they were the important ones. Really all he needed was an answer and he'd know for sure if he'd made a terrible decision in trusting the small woman.

' _I'm talking to you because you're my friend._ ' She was purring again, Sam noted, that was a good sign, ' _And because you're dating Quinn. I don't want her to get hurt again._ '

Sam nodded, a small smile playing on his lips as he leaned back and deliberately broke the eye contact with Mercedes. He was satisfied that Mercedes intentions weren't malicious, the girl clearly just had an uncanny knack for guessing. _Really_ uncanny.

When Sam came out of his reverie Mercedes was giving him a stink eye so bad he actually wanted to crawl into a ball and cry.

'Did you just ju-ju me?' Sam could tell by her voice that Mercedes was teetering on the edge of a verbal smack down so he tried to choose his words very carefully.

'I'm really sorry, Mercedes.'

Mercedes usually full lips had disappeared into a straight line as she stared him down, her eyes practically shooting sparks.

'I…' Sam's rubbed the back of his neck and decided to just be straight with her. He didn't want to build another relationship on lies, regardless of the consequences the truth might bring.

' _Yeah.'_

Mercedes looked so mad Sam thought steam might shoot out of her ears.

'What did you do?' She demanded, pushing herself up from the couch to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips. ' _What did you_ _ **do**_ _?'_

'I compelled you into telling me the truth.' Sam's hands were out in front of him defensively but his voice was apologetic. 'I know I shouldn't have done it, but you guessed my mom so easily… and you'd already guessed what I am…' he shook his head, his blond hair drifting into his eyes with the movement.

'I started to worry that you weren't guessing at all.'

Sam didn't think it was possible, but Mercedes looked even more upset with him than before.

'And you thought that that was something I would do?' she asked incredulously.

'You thought that _I_ would want to hurt you?'

'Well I-'

Mercedes cut him off, 'And you didn't think to _ask_ me about any of this, you just decided to work your powers on me, _which, by the way_ , _you still haven't explained_ , because of a lucky _guess_?'

Sam was fairly certain that attempting to reply would not be a good course of action, so he wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.

'I'm not working with anyone, Sam. I'm just a girl who's observant and good at educated guesses. I'm not dangerous, I'm just trying to be your friend, although you seem to be dead set against that.'

'I'm not!' Sam stood up to protest but Mercedes glared at him until he sat back down again.

'I was worried for my family.' he sighed, pleading with her to believe him.

'My heritage makes _me_ pretty tough, but my family are all mortal… They may not be my birth parents but they still raised me, Mercedes.'

Sam looked away as he tried to find the right words to explain his actions. He knew he'd done wrong, he just wanted Mercedes to know _why_ he'd done what he did.

'I have two younger siblings and they're both mortal.' Sam clasped his hands in front of him and stared at them. 'I'm sorry I compelled you, Mercedes. You're my friend and you have to believe that I really _wanted_ to just trust you on your word… but when it comes to my family, I would do **anything** to keep them safe.'

Mercedes took a deep shaky breath and Sam could tell that she was still irritated with him, but he was also fairly sure that she understood why he'd acted the way he had too.

'And you're satisfied that I'm not a threat now?'

The words held more than a little venom, but Sam nodded, knowing that he deserved that anyway.

'Don't do it again.'

Mercedes perched on the arm of the couch, far away from Sam, and wouldn't look at him properly aside from the odd darted look.

'I promise.' Sam swore, holding out his pinkie in offering. Mercedes eyed it warily.

'You're not going to do more ju-ju with that thing are you?'

Sam shook his head, trying to exude as much solemnity and trustworthy-ness as possible.

'No. It's a peace offering. That's it. A promise that I won't _ju-ju_ you again.'

He held his pinkie out for so long that he began to feel seriously self-conscious until Mercedes edged her hand out towards him and linked her pinky with his.

' _Never again_.' she told him pointedly and Sam was only too quick to agree.

'Never again.'

They unlinked fingers after a single, firm shake and Mercedes leaned back against the couch, still making sure to maintain her distance from Sam.

'Have you ever done that to Quinn?' she asked after an awkward moment of silence.

'Because demi-god or not, I'm totally prepared to kick your ass if you have.'

'No!' Sam almost fell over himself in his rush to assure Mercedes that he had never influenced Quinn. 'I've never actually compelled anyone before. Not on purpose anyway, I did it a couple of times accidentally when I first hit puberty. You know what that's like, though, you can't really control a lot of your body's reactions. It was like a mental erection, I couldn't help it. I can help it now of course.' Sam corrected himself, 'the compelling, I mean, not the erections. Although I can control those now too, sort of.'

Sam slapped both hands over his face and dropped his head back against the headrest. Why was he still talking? He was babbling. He was babbling and saying embarrassing things that Mercedes _never needed to know._

Mercedes snickered next to him, 'Good to know.'

'So…' she ventured, 'asides from the glow-y eyed, pheromone secreting thing… what exactly can you _do_?'

Sam pulled his hands away from his face and turned his head to look at the curvy diva sitting next to him on the couch.

'Seriously?' he asked, 'You still wanna know? I would have thought you'd be leaving my ass high and dry after what I just did.'

'Well then, that just goes to show that you _still_ don't know me very well.' Mercedes said primly. 'Look, I'm not happy about it, but I have your word that it won't happen again, and I understand your reasons.'

'And you believe me?' Sam's voice hitched up with surprise at Mercedes' words.

'I'm pretty good at spotting a liar, Sam.' she told him quietly, 'I knew _you_ were lying about something. Why do you think I was watching you so closely?'

Sam supposed it made sense, Mercedes was pretty good at wheedling out the truth, being able to spot a liar probably went hand in hand with that.

'So what now?'

'Now…' Mercedes slid off the armrest, onto the seat of the couch next to Sam and turned her lamp-like eyes on him. 'now we make cocoa, sit down, and you tell me all about what you can do? Ok?'

Sam nodded and helped his friend off the couch as they went into the kitchen to make cocoa.

There were cookies in the kitchen, Sam's mom must have baked a batch the day before, and he and Mercedes helped themselves to a few, putting them on a plate and carrying them back into the living room with their steaming mugs.

Sam nibbled a cookie and waited for Mercedes to get settled before he began.

'I have water manipulation abilities.' he tipped a wink at her, 'Plus I'm a really awesome swimmer.'

Mercedes scrunched up her nose, 'I thought Poseidon was the water god.'

'He is,' Sam agreed, 'but my mom was born of the sea so there's some crossover.' he shrugged. 'Then there's the compulsion, which you obviously know about. And the pheromones would make me good with women… I guess, only I never use them for that.'

He took another bite of cookie as he thought about what other abilities he possessed. It was weird, but Sam had never really done an inventory of the things he could do before. His abilities were just a part of who he was, it would have been like counting all your senses or something, you didn't think to do it unless you had to.

'I'm good for fertility, too. Or at least, that's what my dad says.'

Mercedes started to smile but Sam stopped her before she could go too far with that thought.

'I rub tummies!' he laughed as Mercedes was forced to reevaluate her thought process. 'Get your mind out of the gutter!' he reached behind him for one of the couch pillows and hit her with it, not hard, but just enough to make her laugh.

'I'm sorry!' Mercedes protested, 'but you're the child of the goddess of love! You can't blame me for going there!'

' _Mmhm_ ' Sam chimed in a perfect imitation of her own 'sassy diva' voice so Mercedes smacked him with her own couch pillow in retaliation.

'Shut up!'

Sam poked his tongue out at her.

'Very mature.'

He shrugged, 'In god years I'm still a baby.'

Mercedes face told him she wasn't going to let him forget that one in a hurry but she didn't push it.

'So you're the fertility wizard?' Mercedes prompted to get him back on track.

'Yeah, I'm pretty much the reason Stacie and Stevie exist.' he grinned proudly.

She raised an eyebrow and Sam almost choked on the humungous bite of cookie he'd taken as he chuckled.

'Don't worry, I know I can't take _all_ the credit.'

'You think?'

'But my mom was actually declared barren.' Sam admitted growing serious as he explained.

'That's how they came to have me. They signed up to foster and they got me not long after I was born, I used to curl up in my mom's arms and rub her tummy before I fell asleep. I did it every night for about a month before she got pregnant. Fifteen years of being told they couldn't have kids and they get twins after a month with me. I don't mean to brag but…' Sam pinched his shirt off his chest and let it fall looking proud of himself.

Mercedes shook her head at his shenanigans but even she had to admit that the twins' birth had seemed pretty miraculous.

'… And I'm friggin' _awesome_ with plants.' Sam added, giving her a double thumbs-up and wiggling them. 'These thumbs are _hella_ green.'

'Boy, I know you did _not_ just say 'hella."

Mercedes tried stuffing cookie into her mouth to keep from laughing, but it just made her cough when she failed and giggled anyway.

'Hey, I can say ' _hella_ '!' Sam protested, 'If you're gonna hang out with me then you're going to have to get used to my super-cool street slang.'

Mercedes only response was to snort so hard with laughter crumbs went up her nose.

'Yeah, _ok_.'

Sam shook his head like it was a mane and said 'Deal with it.' in the prissiest voice he could manage.

He kept it together for all of thirty seconds until the sound of Mercedes little gasps for air as she laughed until no sound came out got to him.

They'd almost finished their cocoa by the time their giggles had subsided so they sat in companionable silence finishing off the last of the cookies until Mercedes had a sudden thought.

'Hey, Sam?' she turned to see the blond boy contemplating a chocolate chip cookie like it held the answers to life's great questions, and shook her head affectionately. _Only Sam_. He dragged his attention away from the treat in his hand to look at her with interest as Mercedes swallowed a gulp of chocolate and asked.

'What about your dad?'

Sam groaned and looked even more intently at the baked goods in his hand.

'Oh, god.' he grumbled as he took a healthy bite. 'My _dad_. Now he brought a whole other stack of gifts to the party.'


	3. Episode 3: The Sparkle Scale

**Episode 3**

'So… I'm going to take a wild guess and say that your dad isn't human either.'

Mercedes leaned forward and placed her finished cocoa mug next to the empty plate on the coffee table between them, before settling back into her overstuffed chair.

'Well, he was human _once.'_ Sam allowed, and watched as Mercedes' chin dropped and her eyebrows disappeared under her blunt bangs.

'Once.' she repeated numbly, '…how long ago was ' _once_ '?'

'About…' Sam thought for a moment, mentally calculating, '600 years ago.'

Mercedes swallowed hard, certain that she must have heard the blond quarterback wrong.

'Six… _hundred_ years,' she repeated slowly, 'since he was human.'

Sam nodded and waited for the inevitable question that he knew was coming.

'So…' Mercedes uttered tentatively, after a moment of awkward silence. 'What is he now?'

 _There it was,_ Sam thought, _the question_. His mouth was half open to reply when he changed his mind at the last second and decided to mess with his friend a little bit.

'Now?' Sam propped his elbow up on the couch armrest and rested his chin on his fist. 'Now he's _not_ human.'

' _Sam!_ '

Sam kept his face impassive as he raised a questioning eyebrow.

' _What?_ '

'You know what I mean.'

The exasperation creeping into Mercedes' voice made him want to smirk, but he held it together, tapping a finger to his chin with a faraway expression as he said thoughtfully.

'I _do?_ "

 _'Sam Evans!'_ Mercedes rounded the coffee table in seconds and launched herself at him, her fingers finding his sides in no time at all before they went to work. Her attack strategy had been founded on a hunch, but if the way Sam was yelping and wriggling between breathless giggles was any indication then it had paid off. Sam Evans may have been some kind of demi-god, but he was also apparently _very_ ticklish.

'I..' Sam wheezed out between bursts of laughter, 'Stop!'

'Stop what?' Mercedes mimicked the clueless tone he'd been using on her without giving an inch in her assault. His futile attempts to wriggle out of her small but deadly clutches did nothing but cause the girl to sprawl on top of him on the couch, where she continued her relentless attack on his torso undeterred.

'He's a vampire now!' Sam shot out, forcing the words out over his laughter, 'Okay? My dad's a vampire!'

Abruptly, Mercedes' fingers stilled, she leaned back onto the opposite armrest withe a nonchalant shake of her head and ran a casual hand through her hair to smooth it as she thought about what he'd said.

'Ok.'

Although he must have had a good few pounds on her, Sam sat up cautiously and eyed the small girl next to him warily out the corner of his eye. She was decidedly more speedy and devious than he had considered and he watched her suspiciously from his position pressed up against the corner of couch where he'd tried to escape her featherlight fingers.

'You are _evil.'_ he breathed once he was upright, 'You look so sweet… so kind…' Sam shook his head as if he were really disappointed, but his voice lilted a bit to show he was joking… _kind of_.

'But secretly, Conan' he added, filling his voice with wonder, 'you're bad to the bone.'

'Why are you calling me 'Conan'?' Mercedes demanded, sassiness dripping from her words like honey.

Sam leaned in towards her and spoke very quietly, almost whispering his next words although he enunciated them clearly..

'Because… you're a _barbarian_.'

'Take it back!'

Mercedes went for him again, fingers at the ready, but Sam was a quick learner, and he had learned what to expect and was ready for her. He'd been playing a variety of sports for years, and that coupled with his enhanced abilities meant that he barely even had to think about reacting when Mercedes came towards him. It was just that one minute she was coming at him, and then the next she was pinned underneath him on the couch.

Mercedes blinked up at him in dazed surprise for a second as she took in the change of position. She had not factored being trapped under Sam's restricting body into her plans, but she regrouped almost instantly, bringing her hands up to try and get a few good tickles in. Sam sighed as if she were a troublesome but adored child and captured each of her smooth wrists in his large hands, holding them above her head to stop her coming for him again.

At this point, Mercedes accepted that she had lost the upper hand. Sneaking up on a guy with superhuman powers was clearly not as easy as she'd hoped it would be, and now Sam had her at a disadvantage.

If the circumstances had been different, Mercedes reflected, their position would be kinda compromising. Sam was almost completely on top of her and it felt like every part of her body was pressed against some part of his, hard chest to soft breasts, muscular legs to soft thighs, she could feel it when he _breathed_. But although their friendship was relatively new they were nevertheless secure in it. They were comfortable with each other, yes, but Sam was dating Quinn and neither he nor Mercedes thought of each other as anything more than friends. Which was why Mercedes had no problem with dropping her head back on the couch and continuing to talk to Sam as if there was nothing at all unusual about their current predicament.

'So, your dad's a vampire?' she began conversationally, her tone light and carefree.

'Yep.' Sam ignored the fact that he could feel the vibrations from their speech trembling through the points where their bodies touched and followed Mercedes' lead. If she was going to act casual, then so was he.

'Huh.' Mercedes was still as she chewed over that information. Sam watched the muscles in her face contracted and flexed with fascinated interest as she frowned. He'd never really been this close to a girl before, not where he was able to just _look_ at her. If he got this close to Quinn then they were almost certainly making out, and he didn't exactly go around staring at his little sister either. Sam had never had girls who were strictly friends before, it was actually kinda cool.

On her part, Mercedes seemed completely oblivious to Sam's observation, she bit her lip briefly in thought before voicing the question that was playing on her mind.

'On a scale of _Nosferatu_ to _Twilight_ , what kind of vampires are we looking at here?'

Sam chuckled softly, and the action sent small vibrations humming through the places where their bodies connected.

'I'd say… somewhere between True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.' Sam determined after a short pause. 'Without all the pining and lame-ass love triangles.'

'Well, that's good to know, I'm not sure I could deal if you sparkled. One Kurt is enough, thank you.'

Sam joined in her soft laughter before Mercedes trailed off, her brows knit together in thought.

'Wait,' she clarified, 'So your dad is a vampire…'

'Yeah…' Sam's eyes shifted in confusion, hadn't they already gone over this?

'Which makes you super-powered vampire spawn…'

All at once Sam could see where her mind was going with this and he didn't approve.

'Don't do it, Mercedes' he implored, 'don't go where I think you're going to go.'

'But Sam,' Mercedes protested, her voice far too bright for Sam's liking.

'No.'

It was coming, he could sense it. Sam tried to mould his features into something resembling a stern look to disapprove her out of going there. It always worked when his mom did it.

'A child of two worlds… gifted with the powers of the vampire…' Mercedes went on, completely undeterred, halting mid-thought to look up at Sam with interest, 'you _do_ have vampire powers right?'

Sam nodded warily as he let out a long-suffering sigh.

'Just say it.' he said flatly.

' _Renesmee_!' Mercedes looked delighted but Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head at the name.

'I can't believe you just compared me to the Twi-hard baby.' He complained, 'You _suck_!' He let out a disgruntled laugh as he let go of Mercedes' wrists and sat up to straighten his plaid shirt.

Mercedes' dimples deepened as she pulled herself upright and propped her back up against the armrest so she was facing him.

'Actually, that would be your dad.' she quipped, a look of concern flittering over her features as she considered what she'd just said, 'and maybe… _you?_ '

Sam clenched his jaw and raised an eyebrow, his fingers picking at the chintz fabric of the couch idly. 'I didn't inherit _that_ part.'

'Oh. **Good**.'

Sam hadn't realised how tense Mercedes had been until she relaxed, letting the tension ebb out of her like a tide with a long, relieved sigh.

'What _did_ you inherit?'

Sam shrugged, trying to play it down even as he knew that the 'cool' powers came from his dad's side of the family and it was his one true opportunity to show off a little bit, everyone else in his life already knew about all of this stuff, anyway.

'Super speed,' he began, draping an arm over the back of the couch and crossing one foot over his knee in an effort to seem uber casual. 'Super strength, all of my senses are enhanced. I can hold my breath for a _really_ long time, and as you'd expect I'm a pretty good hunter, if I may say so myself.' Mercedes pulled a face at him and he laughed. 'Plus, your dad told me I had the best teeth he'd ever seen when I went for a check up last month.'

Mercedes aimed a light kick at the leg Sam had planted on the floor.

'Now I _know_ you're showing off.' she announced, dropping her voice in an imitation of his, " _Your dad told me I had the best teeth he'd ever seen.'_ she stopped and went on in her own voice.

 _'_ Boy, you are too much. You know, I was down until you said that. I was all ready to be the Max to your Terry McGinnis but you just _had_ to go there, didn't you.' she pulled a disgusted face at the memory but the smile that teased at the corners of her lips let Sam know she wasn't serious. 'It's like you _want_ me to dislike you.' she complained, giving him the side-eye.

'Aw… _Mercy!_ ' Sam fought Mercedes' half-assed protests to pull her into a hug, wrapping his long arms around her while her own hung limply at her sides. 'Are you jealous that your daddy likes my teeth better than yours?'

Mercedes laughed despite herself and shoved away from him.

'You ain't _shit,_ Sam.'

The jock shrugged and leaned back with an unconcerned chuckle and a Chesire grin stretched across his handsome face.

Mercedes raised a hand to rub an itchy eye and tried to steer the conversation back on track.

'So, a six hundred year old vampire and a Greek goddess walk into a bar…'

Sam laughed as he stretched and fit his hands behind his head. 'I know you're kidding, but that's actually pretty accurate. My mom was in human form at the time - I hear she does that from time to time for gits and shiggles - and she walked into a bar one day and met my dad. He won her over, which is rare because she's the goddess of love, you know, so she's literally heard it all before. But that's my dad for you, he charmed her, she was impressed and the next thing you know…' Sam held out his arms to submit himself as evidence.

' _Wow_.' Mercedes breathed, unable to imagine a feat unique enough to woo Aphrodite.

'What did he do that impressed her so much?'

'Can't you guess?' Sam's pale eyebrows rose into his hairline as his mouth cocked in a close-lipped half-smile. He saw Mercedes consider it, but he answered his own question before she had a chance to guess.

' _Impressions._ '

Mercedes' hands clapped together in joy and she grinned at him.

'So _that's_ where you get it from!'

Sam nodded, his eyes trained on his sneakers as he was suddenly overcome with bashfulness at her reaction. His blush stained his ears a deep red as he went on.

'Yeah, but I guess I'm not as smooth with mine.' he looked up to meet Mercedes' deep, chocolate-coloured eyes with his own. 'Quinn doesn't like them.' he admitted sadly as he exhaled.

'Your impressions are awesome.' Mercedes reached out a reassuring hand and patted Sam's leg, 'They just aren't really Quinn's thing.' she withdrew her hand gently but Sam still felt the loss like one might miss a warm hat in the snow.

He scrubbed a hand through his shaggy blond hair and clenched his jaw in acknowledgement of Mercedes' observation.

'Then what _is_ her thing?' Quinn seemed utterly unimpressed with everything he did these days, and neither the impressions nor his Southern Boy charm were cutting it. As Quinn's best friend, maybe Mercedes could tell him where he was going wrong. He really hoped so.

'Quinn…' Mercedes' normally strong voice faltered as she second guessed her natural instinct to tell Sam everything. He was Quinn's boyfriend after all, and some of the stuff she felt needed to be said was not likely to be fun listening for a guy who was hoping for a 'forever'. _Still_ , Mercedes decided, Sam had been open and honest with her, and it seemed only right that she return the favour, so Mercedes took a fortifying breath and continued.

'I don't know _what_ Quinn likes.' she admitted, her head tilting to one side as she searched for the right words to properly explain what she was trying to say.

'But then, I don't think Q knows exactly either. She's still figuring out who she is,' Mercedes expanded, 'I don't think she truly knows how to please herself, let alone how someone else can do it.' The dark-skinned girl squeezed her shoulders up to her ears before dropping them again, an apologetic look written all over her pretty features.

'I love Quinn, and you and I are friends, but I can't pretend I was happy when she told me the two of you were seeing each other.' Mercedes raised both hands, palms towards him in a silent request for Sam to hear her out.

'You weren't here last year, Sam, but it was rough for Quinn. I guess I'm worried that she's jumping into things with you _now_ to avoid dealing with the things that came up _then_.'

Mercedes bit her bottom lip, dragging it through her teeth only to repeat the process as she sighed.

'If she's going to be with anyone, though, I'm glad it's you. You're a good guy, and you're steady. I think she needs that.' The small girl glanced through her lashes at the taller blond boy next to her, her hands toying with the chunky ring on her hand. Mercedes twisted the bauble to and fro on her finger as she continued on in a thoughtful tone.

'I know Quinn seems like she's tough as nails, but… she's vulnerable in strange places. Please, just be careful with her, Sam. I know she can be a little… _sharp_ at times but she's not as thick-skinned as you think. Don't hurt her. I know you won't, but… _don't._ '

Sam's mouth curved upwards in a soft smile as he nodded his agreement to Mercedes' quiet plea/ threat. He was glad that Quinn had someone like Mercedes at her back, but as selfish as he may have sounded, Sam was more glad for himself. Mercedes had proven herself time and time again to be the kind of selfless friend a formerly home-schooled kid like him had previously only been able to dream of.

'You got it.' Sam held out a fist for her to bump, but Mercedes tapped the top and the bottom with her own closed fist before she bumped it with his, snapping her fingers as she pulled her hand away.

'Did we… did we just get a secret handshake?' Sam was trying to keep a lid on the excitement welling up inside him but some of it spilled over into his voice unheeded. He had always wanted a secret handshake, but it was one of those things that had never really taken off whenever he'd tried to initiate one, now here Mercedes was just busting one out like it was no big deal. _This was_ exactly _what he meant,_ Mercedes was like those best friends you saw in the movies, he'd thought that the kinds of relationships he'd seen on screen were even less believable than half the made-up supernatural crap that he heard, and he knew first hand the truth about a lot of that. But Mercedes was _here_ , and she was **real**. If there was one thing he knew with absolute clarity at that moment, it was that letting Mercedes Jones in on his secret was the best decision Sam had ever made. The relief alone at finally having someone else to talk to was even enough to cancel out his worry over what his Fosters might say if they discovered someone else knew. _He'd cross that bridge when he came to it._

Mercedes was shooting him an amused look that said ' _be cool, bro_.' as he stared down at their closed fists like he'd just stumbled into Narnia. Sam nodded despite the fact that Mercedes hadn't actually said anything out loud and dropped his hand.

'You're kinda like a white _Blade_.' Mercedes said after a moment and Sam smirked to himself, it was something he'd thought himself when he'd first found out the truth about his parents.

'Yeah,' Sam scoffed, 'Except Blade doesn't have to go to _school_ every day.'

Mercedes let out a laugh like bells ringing and pouted her bottom lip out at him.

'Aw, poor _Baby-G_ has to go to school like the rest of us.'

Sam scrunched his nose up at her but she just laughed again with no sympathy whatsoever.

'Speaking of…' Mercedes checked her watch and stood to leave, 'It's a school night, and my mom will kill me if I stay out much later.'

Sam stood up with her, helping her on with her coat and waiting while she collected her things before he walked her to the front door. Instead of opening it straight away,

Sam paused with one hand on the doorknob as he turned to face Mercedes behind him

'You know, I can walk you home.' he offered, not comfortable with his new friend walking home alone in the fading light, but Mercedes waved away the suggestion..

'It's sweet of you to offer, but I'll be fine. I only live two blocks away from here.'

Sam shrugged and fingered the doorframe, pausing in the motion to flick the hair out of his eyes with a jerk of his head.

'I still can, if you want. You don't have to go alone.'

Mercedes surprised him by sweeping him into a firm hug which, after a heartbeat, he returned, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on the top of her head as they held each other.

'I'll be fine.' she promised, 'I actually need the alone time.' Mercedes pulled out of Sam's embrace and stood looking at him in the doorway. 'To process.' she added hastily when she caught sight of the hurt shining behind his eyes. 'It's just a lot to take in at once.'

Sam bobbed his head in understanding, stepping back out of the doorway to unlock the door for her. He shoved one hand in his jeans pocket and scuffed his feet along the mat in the hallway, his mom would kill him if she caught him doing that, but Sam's mind was elsewhere, full of fears that things would go back to the way they had been as soon as Mercedes stepped through the door. He really didn't want that to happen.

'See you at school?' Sam asked hopefully as he turned the door knob and pulled it open. The cold air whipped around them and into the hallway, causing Mercedes to shrink inside her coat as she nodded, her chin tucked into the collar of her coat to keep the chill from her neck.

'See you at school.' Mercedes agreed, stepping through the door Sam held open for her out onto the porch beyond. She turned back to see Sam leaning against the door frame looking like some kind of Ralph Lauren, All-American god. Which he _was_ , Mercedes realised with a soft chuckle to herself.

'What are you giggling at?' Sam asked smiling as he looked down at her from the top of the porch steps.

'Nothing,' Mercedes shrugged and then threw caution to the wind and told him anyway, 'I was just thinking about how you're an All-American, teenage, demi-god-slash-vampire. Kinda blew my mind for a minute.'

Sam shot her a smile worthy of a Colgate commercial and tipped his chin at her as Mercedes made her way down his driveway, when she got to the bottom she turned and found that he was still watching her, knowing Sam he would probably watch out for her until she was completely out of sight, and possibly afterwards.

'Why don't you have your own TV show?' Mercedes asked, knowing that raising her voice wasn't necessary because with his enhanced senses he'd hear her anyway.

' _Love Triangles_.' he reminded her, and she heard him chuckle lowly on the porch. The sound had barely reached her ears before Sam himself was standing next to her, Mercedes had turned from the porch with a shake of her head and run straight into Sam's firm chest with a startled squawk and a flail of her arms.

'Good God, Sam!' Mercedes scolded, one hand on her racing heart as she fought to get her shot nerves under control. 'Give a girl some _warning!'_

'Sorry.' He didn't look sorry, he looked like he was trying really hard not to burst into peals of laughter. There were _tears_ in his eyes! Mercedes glowered at him as Sam swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.

'Who needs TV when you've got real life, right?' he asked, extending his closed fist out to her. Mercedes grumbled but bumped fists with him, perfectly in sync as they both went through the motions Mercedes had done earlier. The blond boy didn't even try to check the grin that plastered itself on his face as he pulled his fist away.

'Right.' Mercedes agreed quietly as she set off briskly in the direction of her house, adding silently ' _Because high school is drama enough_ without _the superpowers.'_ she shoved her hands deep into her pockets and kept her head down against the cold as she walked.

 _High school just got a whole lot more complicated._


	4. Episode 4: Things Fall Apart

**Episode 4**

Mercedes had been… _off…_ in Glee club today. Sam didn't know if it was because his friendship with her was new, or if it was just because he found himself looking at her more and more to gauge her reactions to various things, but he _knew_ that something was up. Mercedes had been too quiet, and she didn't laugh as much. In fact, she'd spent most of the period examining her high tops, or fiddling with her jewelry. It was _weird,_ and Sam didn't like it.

'Is everything, ok?' he asked her after glee club was over, pulling Mercedes to one side as she went to collect things from her locker. Quinn was waiting for him by his truck, so he knew that he didn't have much time before he'd have to head out, but Sam still wanted to check on his friend first.

'It's fine.' Mercedes mumbled, standing on tiptoes as she struggled to fish her copy of _A Streetcar Named Desire_ out from where it had fallen over on the top shelf of her locker.

'Here.' Sam easily reached for the book and handed it to her, his fingers brushing hers as she took it from him.

'Thanks.'

'Mercedes, we're _friends_.' Sam reminded her, lowering his voice to whisper, 'you know my deepest, darkest secret, okay?' He shot her a little conspiratorial smile, 'You can _talk_ to me.'

The short woman smiled back up at him, her eyes searching his for a moment before she sighed and leaned her head against her locker door.

'It's Kurt.'

'Kurt?' Sam frowned, 'Weren't you just in there talking to him? I thought you guys were good?'

Mercedes nodded against the metal before leaning back and slamming her locker shut. She leaned her shoulder up against it to face Sam and he mirrored her body language, taking a step closer to her so that they wouldn't be overheard.

'Yeah,' Mercedes said sadly. ' _Technically_ we're fine… but _actually_?' she shook her head. 'He met this new guy, Blaine, at that private school Puck sent him to.'

'I remember.' Sam hadn't actually thought Puck was serious, but good on Kurt for going anyway, and he'd apparently made a new friend there.

'Well, now it's _all about_ Blaine. _All the time._ ' Mercedes complained, 'Just now, when we were in there talking? I suggested we hang out sometime this week because I felt like I've _barely_ seen him lately. He says, 'Oh, sorry Mercedes, I have plans with Blaine." her expressive eyes took on a melancholy cast as she bit her lip.

'I didn't even suggest a specific _day_ and he's already blowing me off for some guy he's just met.'

Sam winced on his friend's behalf. He was sure Kurt didn't know he was doing it, but his actions were hurting Mercedes as sure as stabbing her with a knife would.

'Well, his loss is my gain.' Sam announced, hoping to lighten her mood. 'less Kurt time means more _Samcedes_ time.' he did a little shoulder dance at the prospect.

'Samcedes?' Mercedes asked with a single raised eyebrow, the smirk on her face letting Sam know that he had momentarily distracted her with his tomfoolery.

' _Yeah,'_ he grinned, holding his arms out by his sides, palms forward like he was presenting himself as a trophy.

'Team _you and me_! Brosephs, Pals, BFFs! … _'_ he leaned in and whispered, 'Not going to lie, we're _kinda_ awesome.'

Mercedes smiled the biggest smile he'd seen on her in about a week.

' _Team Samcedes?_ "

'Hey, don't knock it! You might roll your eyes now, but just you wait, we're going to be _epic."_

Sam parted his hands across the sky as though imagining their names in lights - or maybe spelled out across the stars- he wasn't sure yet. Either way, they were going to be the best friends _ever._ He was sure of it.

'We're going to be the next Rocky and Bullwinkle, Pebbles and Bam Bam, The Fonz and that guy Ron Howard played in _Happy Days_.'

Mercedes let out a little bout of surprised, incredulous laughter and swiped at Sam's shoulder, shaking her head good-naturedly.

'Sometimes, you are _so_ homeschooled.'

'Shut up!' Sam smiled down at her and readjusted his bag over his shoulder. He was glad to see Mercedes looking somewhat happy again, even if he knew it would only last until she remembered Kurt.

'I gotta go.' he said apologetically after a quick glance at his watch. Quinn was still waiting by the car and he'd been talking to Mercedes for at least 10 minutes now, but he felt more ok with leaving her now that she'd cheered up a little bit.

'No worries.' Mercedes giggled as Sam held out his fist and they did their bump, only for him to pull her into a tight hug anyway once they were done.

'I'll see you tomorrow.' he promised and Mercedes waved him off as he made his way out to the parking lot.

'Was everything ok with Mercedes?' Quinn asked when Sam unlocked the truck door for her and helped her in.

'Um, kind of.' Sam hedged, unsure of how much to say. 'She's having problems with Kurt.' he admitted as he climbed in his own side and rolled over the engine. He clipped his seatbelt into place and waited a few seconds for the car to warm up.

'I thought they might be.' Quinn speculated, examining the tips of her blonde hair for split ends as Sam shifted gears and started to drive. 'Kurt took a text while Mercedes was singing in our mash-up last week. Wasn't subtle about it either. I'm _sure_ Mercy noticed, although she hasn't said anything.'

' _What?'_ Sam took his eyes of the road momentarily to flash his girlfriend a disbelieving look. 'He _didn't.'_

 _'_ He did.' Quinn confirmed, stopping her inspection of her hair to answer him. 'It was really rude, and I heard him squealing with Berry afterwards about it being a text from some kid from that all-boys school he visited. _Dane_ or… _Zane?_ Something like that.'

'Blaine.' Sam supplied in a dull voice, his heart dropping to his stomach for Mercedes.

'Yeah.' Quinn acknowledged with a shrug of her slim shoulders. 'Anyway, it's like he didn't even realise Mercedes was still there. It was _harsh_ , and that's coming from me.'

'You're not harsh.' Sam disagreed distractedly as he made a turning.

'Oh, _honey._ ' Quinn's voice was condescending as she turned her cool green eyes on her boyfriend. 'You clearly have _no_ idea what I'm like. I've done so many things…' she trailed off, her tone thoughtful, 'I'm better now - pregnancy was a very public fall from grace - but I'm not a saint. Don't try to paint me as one, you'll be disappointed.'

Sam chanced another look at the pretty cheerleader beside him and swallowed involuntarily. The scariest part was that he could tell she wasn't lying, her heartbeat was a steady as a rock.

'Oh.'

'Mmm.' Quinn hummed before she turned to look out the window.

The more Sam thought about Kurt's behaviour towards Mercedes the angrier he got, which wasn't exactly stellar for his control. He'd barely been able to sleep a wink last night between the thoughts of Mercedes and the million and one things his senses were picking up while he wasn't concentrating on dialling them down. He'd heard a lot of things he'd never, ever wanted to hear that night. He'd never be able to look at the couple that lived a few houses down the same way again.

The next day found Mercedes heading to lunch alone, apparently Kurt was going to go grab coffee and eat lunch with Blaine at the Lima Bean, and Sam ran to catch up with her. Quinn was off doing something Cheerios-related and he didn't have any other lunch plans, which meant that if she'd let him he'd be hanging out with Mercedes for the entire lunch period. He caught up with her just before she stepped outside into the sunny quad and dropped a friendly arm over her shoulders. He was surprised by the speed and strength with which she removed his arm and used it to shove him a good few feet away from her before she realised who he was.

'Sam!' her eyes went wide, 'I'm sorry, I didn't… the football players tend to do that and I… it was automatic. Sorry!' She needlessly attempted to brush him off while Sam rubbed his sore arm.

'No, that'll serve me right for surprising a friggin' _ninja.'_ Sam put up his hands as if to karate chop her and she laughed with relief to see that he wasn't mad at her.

'So are you going to admit that you were taking out your pent up aggression on me?' Sam asked, falling into step beside her, 'or are you going to pretend that you're absolutely fine now and I need to stop worrying.'

'I _am_ fine.' Mercedes protested and Sam made an incorrect buzzer noise with his mouth.

'I'm afraid that's the incorrect answer.' he said in a game-show host voice, 'would you care to try again?'

Mercedes rolled her eyes, then sighed, her eyes focussing briefly on something over Sam's shoulder as she started to speak.

'Ok. So, before Kurt ditched me for lunch with Blaine, I asked him if we were still on for bowling tomorrow night.'

Sam nodded, putting a hand at the small of the shorter girl's back to guide her out of the path of some boisterous skater boys.

'Uh huh.' Mercedes had turned down his own offer of a sci-fi movie marathon that night in favour of her plans with Kurt, which she'd had in her diary for _weeks_ and couldn't stop talking about. Apparently they did it every month and kept a running score and everything. The loser had to buy the winner something at the end of the year and he'd often heard Kurt and Mercedes talking smack to each other over their bowling prowess before he'd known them properly.

'He said Blaine got them tickets to see some community theatre show tomorrow. He wasn't even going to tell me.' Mercedes added, her eyes flicking to Sam's left briefly, the movement allowed him to catch the diva attitude peeking through the slight sheen of tears in her eyes. 'And did he ask Blaine to score me an extra ticket? _No.'_

Sam clenched his jaw, wishing that Kurt was actually around this lunchtime so that Sam could give the boy a piece of his mind. First the texting thing, now this? Mercedes was the best friend Sam had ever had, and she was Kurt's _best friend._ Why on earth was the fashion-conscious teen so willing to throw that away?

' _Don't.'_ Mercedes warned, taking in the tell-tale clench in the quarterback's jaw and the way his whole body tensed. 'I can see you thinking about confronting him on my behalf. **Don't** ** _.'_**

 _How did she_ do _that?_ Sam wondered, thinking that it was kinda disconcerting how easily she could read him now.

'I'd just _talk_ to him.' he protested, ' _Firmly_.'

'You can't compel anyone into being my friend.' Mercedes gave Sam such a stern look that he briefly wondered if she might be related to Medusa.

'I wasn't _talking_ about compelling him.' Sam complained, 'I was talking about very firmly squishing his little cell phone and pointing out that you are _much_ more fun to look at.' his words belied the bitterness he was beginning to feel towards Kurt, he didn't understand why Mercedes wasn't angry.

'It's _fine._ ' Mercedes stepped in front of him and put a small hand to his chest, stopping him in his tracks. 'Seriously, Sam. I'm pretty sure this thing going on between me and Kurt is temporary, and it was bound to happen sooner or later, right? We're teenagers, our relationship is bound to shift a couple of times. We'll get over it.'

She frowned slightly at something over Sam's shoulder, and he turned around to see what she was looking at but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He gave her a quizzical look and she shrugged as she turned him by his elbow and looped her arm through his.

'I'm _more_ concerned about this tots ban Coach Sylvester…sorry, _Principal_ Sylvester' she corrected herself, 'is implementing. I mean, what will I come to school for now?' Mercedes fluttered her eyelashes as she pantomimed wide-eyed lament, and then gave a comical waggle of her eyebrows that had her and Sam giggling like idiots as they made their way to the cafeteria doors.

Mercedes stopped dead as Sam reached for the door handle, staring at something she _thought_ she'd seen behind one of the large wooden flowerbeds that lined the walkway.

'What?' Sam dropped his hand from the door to look at where Mercedes was staring. 'You keep doing that. What's going on?'

Mercedes shook her head, as if trying to convince herself that she was just seeing things.

'It's nothing. I just keep thinking I'm seeing shadows.'

Sam's brow furrowed as he peered down at the dark-skinned woman in front of him.

'There are shadows _everywhere,_ Merce.' he pointed out. 'It's a sunny day…'

'No.' Mercedes shook her head, her shoulder length hair whipping at her cheeks, 'It's different, _they're_ different. They don't seem to be _attached_ to anything and they're _too dark.'_ Sam looked like he was considering sending her to the nurse with heatstroke, so she just rolled her eyes and grabbed at his hand to drag him into the cafeteria with her.

As she yanked open the door, Mercedes caught sight of another one, this one hovering just at the edge of her peripheral vision. Casually, Mercedes gave Sam's hand a small squeeze and cut her eyes in the direction of the shadow from where they stood in the doorway.

Sam dutifully glanced where she'd indicated and stiffened next to her, the tension practically ebbing through him as he leaned close and whispered, in a voice so quiet that Mercedes could almost have mistaken it for one of her own thoughts, to get inside. Sam's eyes stayed trained on the shadow as Mercedes hovered at the entrance to the building, her own eyes fixed on her friend's rigid figure. She couldn't bring herself to close the door on him as the shadow seemed to grow and become more tangible, and as Mercedes watched the shape grew, and grew, and _grew_ in front of her until it stood a good foot taller than Sam's already tall stature.

The thing continued to expand out sideways, unfurling large leathery wings that it wrapped around itself like a cloak, its' head just humanoid enough to be grotesque as it blinked orange eyes the size of tennis balls, its' focus locked on Sam, filmy membranes sliding sideways across the spheres like gossamer-thin eyelids. Mercedes watched with horror rising in her throat as at least three other pairs of eyes lining the creatures' thick dark neck blinked in succession, its' pincer-like mouth opening and closing as it tasted the air around it with a long, red tongue.

 _Demon._

Mercedes didn't need Sam to tell her what the huge creature in front of her was, something inside of her already seemed to know. It was as if some primeval, latent part of her whispered the word to her subconscious and she just _knew._

This creature was _definitely_ not a shadow.

Not at _all._


	5. Episode 5: The Fine Art of Distraction

**Episode 5.**

'Mercedes.' Sam's voice didn't waver as his eyes stayed locked on the demon in front of him. 'I'm going to need you to get inside and make sure that no one else comes out here, ok?'

Mercedes made a noise in the back of her throat that she assumed could be taken as an agreement, but her feet stayed rooted to the spot.

'I don't want to leave you.' she admitted in a small voice, looking between Sam and the great, dark _thing_ before him. Sam pulled his eyes away from the demon for half a second to smile weakly at her.

'I'll be fine.' he promised as he turned back to the demon, who hadn't moved. 'Just… go inside and create a distraction… _Please?_ '

Mercedes didn't want to - she had heard the lie in Sam's voice when he'd said he'd be fine - but the _last_ thing she wanted to do was draw the demon's attention to that particular reality, so she let the heavy glass door fall shut behind her and turned around to face the cafeteria. No one had noticed the commotion outside yet, thank goodness, and it was Mercedes' job to make sure that they _didn't_ … but _how?_ All Mercedes could think about was that minutes ago she and Sam had been laughing at her dumb joke about tots, and now he was facing down…

Wait, _Tots._

It wasn't exactly perfect, and Mercedes cringed at the jokes she'd have thrown her way forever after, but it was the only thing that was making it through her panicked brain at the moment and she needed to act fast. She pulled a Sharpie from her pocket and grabbed a lunch tray, moving to the other end of the room so that any attention she attracted wouldn'taccidentally fall on Sam talking to the giant bat-bug nightmare.

 _He owes me_ **SO** _big,_ Mercedes thought to herself as she scrawled across the back of the tray, and then let it hang limply in her hand by her side as she began to argue loudly with anyone and everyone she could about the removal of the potato product.

Truth was, Mercedes didn't even _like_ tots that much, and she could tell from the puzzled look Maura, the lunch lady, shot her that she wasn't the only one who was aware of that particular piece of information, but from where she was standing Mercedes could see the demon stalking towards Sam through the lunchroom window, its legs bending in too many places, and knew that she _had_ to keep the other students from noticing it at _all costs_. Mercedes supposed that she was lucky her panic could be confused for anger, because her voice shook tremulously as she climbed on one of the tables and held up her hastily made sign.

'WE DESERVE OUR… _uh,_ TOTS!' she shouted, wishing that the ground would swallow her up as every eye in the room turned towards her. She could already practically _feel_ the sting of the slushies she would get as a result of this. She fixed the uncertainty in her voice and started to chant, she wasn't sure what she was saying, something about ' _tots'_ and ' _now_ '? She may have thrown the word 'freedom' in there somewhere too, but while her mouth was shouting about potatoes, her heart, eyes and mind were all on the confrontation going on outside the window.

And yet people apparently liked tots _way_ more than Mercedes would ever have guessed, because the students were surprisingly quick to back her on her hastily thrown together anti- _anti-tots_ campaign. In fact, the students soon took over the protests on their own, rallying each other to protest harder and chant louder.

Although was aching to go and check on Sam now that the distraction was well and truly caused, Mercedes knew that should she try to make her way outside now at least one set of eyes would follow her. Mercedes _couldn't_ risk exposing Sam or the demon, so she remained bound to her spot, mentally cursing the fact that all she could do for the moment was watch… and _chant._

 _/_

Sam heard the roar coming from inside the cafeteria and knew that Mercedes had managed to do as he'd asked. He was glad, for a moment it had seemed like she was going to stay behind. Although he'd never faced a demon before, Sam knew that he stood a much better chance if he wasn't trying to protect his best friend at the same time, so he was grateful when Mercedes had retreated inside the cafeteria without much further prompting.

'What do you want?' Sam's voice was deceptively steady and cool as he addressed the demon that had been following him. It tipped its head, long tongue flicking out towards him and back again as the pincers that made up its jaw clicked in the taste of his words.

«YOU HAVE…» The pincers clicked together more rapidly, making a sound like a typewriter under the hands of a prized secretary.

«SOMETHING WE…» The demon's voice was ghastly, something between a howl, a death rattle and a scream. It made his skin crawl, Sam was just glad that the chanting was so loud no one inside the cafeteria would be able to hear it. Every word was sending horrified shivers down his spine.

«NEEEEEEEEEED.» The creature finished, clacking its pincers together even more rapidly as it waited for him to respond.

Sam stood his ground and stared the demon down as it stalked towards him, its lurching double-kneed legs giving it a nauseating gait. Sam could hear the joints pop out and crunch back in as the demon moved, but his voice was calm as he looked unblinkingly up at it.

'And what's that?'

/

Mercedes squinted as more people climbed on tables to face her. Although she should have been thrilled at their enthusiasm, they were blocking her view of Sam and the demon and if she moved now it would draw attention and seem odd… but she _hated_ not knowing what was going on out there.

Mercedes used the momentum from waving her sign to take a few steps to her left. Perfect. Now she could see them both again. The demon was in Sam's face, but the blond jock looked completely unperturbed. **_There_** _he is!_ Mercedes thought with pride as Sam said something to the demon that made it shake its entire body furiously, its mandibles smacking together so fast that, from where Mercedes was standing, they looked like a blur. From beneath the leathery cloak-like wings the demon produced a limb like a coil that mechanically unfurled and snapped into place. Mercedes was aware that she was still bobbing up and down and shouting, but her eyes were glued to the scene out the window in front of her as what looked like three long, spindly fingers and a thumb took an eternity to peel away from the end of the now-extended coil.

It was an arm, she realised… _sort of_. It had so many joints that the limb didn't look anything _like_ a human arm, but the thing resembling a hand at the end convinced Mercedes that that was indeed what it was.

The demon said something else to Sam and the next thing she knew a long, silver dagger had appeared in the creature's hand and slashed across Sam's arm. Mercedes' hand flew to her face as she watched Sam double over, blood spouting from the injury.

Her reaction earned her several strange glances, so Mercedes turned to the person next to her and gave them a look as if their loud chanting had startled her. She honestly couldn't say _how_ loud the guy was, and if someone had asked her what she'd even been yelling for the past ten minutes Mercedes wouldn't have been able to answer. Every cognitive part of her was focussed on the demon outside, waiting for it to disappear so that she could get to Sam. Mercedes resented being tied to the front of the crowd, but it did allow her to watch as the demon stuck out its hideous tongue and ran the tip along the knife edge coated with Sam's blood. It clicked something out at the fallen teenager and was abruptly a shadow again, stealing away so fast that Mercedes would have believed it were just a trick of the light had she not observed the whole thing.

/

 _It slashed me,_ Sam thought angrily through the pain that throbbed from his arm, _that damn demon_ _ **slashed**_ _me!_

He watched as the blood dripped steadily through his fingers and onto the grey concrete below to form a little pool of his blood. _Fucking demons,_ Sam thought bitterly as strong, tender hands wrapped around him and lifted him to his feet.

'It's me.' Mercedes' doe eyes brimmed with concern and fear as she supported his weight and helped him to his feet, taking a good look at the wound on his arm as soon as he was upright.

'Take this off.' she commanded, pulling down the zip on the front of his light blue and navy track jacket.

'Trying to get me naked, Cede?' Sam joked, his words running together slightly as he slipped his arm out of the clingy fabric. He stumbled a bit as he pulled his hand free but Mercedes was quick to steady him as she pulled the rest of the jacket down over the hand holding his arm.

'It's a public service.' Mercedes quipped back, but her voice wobbled dangerously as she caught sight of all the blood spewing from his arm. Instead of pulling it off completely, Mercedes bunched the fabric and shoved it back into his hand.

'Press down on your arm with that.'

'But I _love_ this jacket.' Sam whined, looking remorsefully at the material as dark red steadily soaked into the light blue sections. He was starting to get a little woozy, which probably meant that he was losing more blood than he had thought. If he lost much more he'd have to go to the hospital, and that would _not_ be good.

'It was ruined anyway.' Mercedes told him firmly as she gently guided him to the nearest janitor's closet. Her fingers linked tenderly with his as she guided him. She'd tried to lead Sam to the girls' washroom but he'd slurred at her that there would be too many questions asked if anyone caught her cleaning up a knife wound in there. Mercedes had reluctantly agreed, but figured that she could run across the hall for the supplies she'd need just as soon as she got the blond demi-god situated.

 _/_

Down the hall, Kurt had just returned from his lunch date with Blaine… Ok, so it hadn't exactly been a _date_ , date _,_ but he was still floating on air as he stepped through the school doors. That was until he spotted his best friend leading her so called 'soul sister's' boyfriend by the hand into a janitor's closet. Neither Mercedes nor Sam had seen him, and for a moment Kurt wondered whether he should go over there and confront them both, but he quickly decided against it. He didn't want to ruin his Blaine buzz with glee club drama, but Kurt carefully filed away what he'd seen for future consideration. He would _definitely_ be talking to Mercedes Jones about _that_. Kurt turned in the opposite direction, wondering why the halls were so oddly silent at this time of the day. He vaguely thought he could hear rhythmic yelling in the distance, but he figured that it was probably one of the neanderthal football players doing something impressive - like counting to two. The rest of the team were probably congratulating the smartest of their number on his genius at this very moment.

/

Mercedes made two stops after she'd deposited Sam in the janitor's closet, first to her locker to grab her first aid kit - people always made fun of her for having one, but it came in handy sometimes - and then to the bathroom where she grabbed wads of paper, filled a plastic cup she'd snagged from the cafeteria with water and then made her way back to the closet as quickly as possible.

'Strip.' Mercedes commanded as soon as she stepped through the door, eyeing the way Sam's smedium shirt was clinging to his wound with concern.

The boy flashed her a drunk-looking lopsided grin and grabbed at the hem of his shirt with one hand. Making a stripper beat with his mouth he struggled to pull the fabric over his head with one immobilised arm.

' _For goodness_ … come here.' Mercedes demanded, appearing at his side instantly and batting his healthy arm down as she gripped the bottom of his shirt with both hands. Her knuckles grazed the warm skin of his abs underneath as she curled her hands around the fabric and eased it up over Sam's body. She'd inched the fabric up to his chest when Sam's breathing began to even out and a panicked Mercedes hastily dragged the shirt down to make sure that her injured friend hadn't passed out. It turned out that he hadn't, Sam was just watching her with amused peridot eyes as she struggled to undress him.

'You want me _sooo bad_.' The blond teased, giggling at his own joke as he leaned forward precariously so that Mercedes could work his shirt over his head and down his arms.

'I _want_ to put my foot up your ass.' Mercedes shot back as she concentrated on peeling the frayed edges of the cloth from the wound without hurting him too much. She wished she'd thought to bring scissors, but time had seemed of the essence and Mercedes hadn't wanted to leave Sam on his own for too long. Her mind kept replaying the moment the demon had slashed him over and over again in slow motion. It was horrible, and she hoped neither of them would have to experience anything like that ever again. _But you will,_ a small voice in her head said, _if you stay friends with the demi-god then you_ _ **will**_ _._

Once Mercedes had gotten most of the fluff and cotton out of Sam's cut and cleaned the majority of the blood away she was able to survey the damage from a much better position.

'This looks bad, Sam.' she told her friend as she poured alcohol onto a wad of the cotton wool she'd retrieved from her locker. 'You might need stitches. Maybe I should take you to hospital…'

'No.' Sam shook his head, 'No hospitals. It'll heal.'

'Yeah, _eventually.'_ Mercedes countered, 'but not properly and not _well_ unless you get the care you need. You've already lost a whole lot of blood.' she pointed out, pressing a steadying hand to his shoulder so she could swab at the wound with the alcohol.

Sam flinched as the strong-smelling liquid burned his nose and stung his arm.

'I'll heal _soon.'_ he insisted, trying to pull his arm away, but Mercedes pulled it back with grim determination etched on her features and continued to swipe at it with the cotton wool. 'It's part of the genetics.' Sam explained, 'Super fast healing.'

His words were already sounding clearer as his system rapidly replicated his missing blood. Sam winced again as Mercedes pressed the alcohol-soaked cotton to his arm for a third time.

'You know, you probably don't even have to do that.' he suggested hopefully. 'The whole thing will no doubt be gone by tomorrow. Probably won't even scar.' he added as Mercedes ignored him completely and continued to sterilise the wound.

'Don't care.' she deadpanned, 'if it's going to heal over then I'd really prefer it didn't do so teeming with infection.'

Sam sighed and sat back, watching Mercedes work silently on his arm until she wrapped a bandage around his bicep and secured it with a safety pin.

He moved to stand but Mercedes stopped him with a small hand to his bare chest. Sam looked at her dark brown fingers splayed out across his pale chest with confusion before he looked up to meet her eyes. Mercedes wouldn't return his gaze, she kept her eyes glued firmly to the contrast between her skin and his as she spoke, her voice so quiet Sam had to employ his vampire senses just to hear what she said.

'I don't care if you're a demi-god.' Small tremors rippled through her voice as she spoke, and Sam wondered if she were holding back tears. 'I don't _care_ if you have a vampire dad or a goddess mom or super-strength or super-speed or _any_ of those superpowers you have.' She gave the tiniest of sniffles and Sam knew for _certain_ that she was fighting to hold it together.

'I don't care if you've dealt with a million and one demons before and I don't care if you'll heal fast or bounce back from any injury you get.' A single tear trickled down Mercedes' cheek but she staunchly ignored it to continue speaking.

'I don't _care,_ because when I saw you get hurt out there you weren't _any_ of those things. Because when that _thing_ hurt you, you just looked like Sam Evans, dorky teenager and my _friend,_ going up against something way _bigger_ and _scarier_ than you.'

Sam could hear the fear and helplessness in her voice as she spoke. He hadn't much thought about it before, but he suddenly realised how it must have looked from Mercedes' perspective, seeing him hurt and bleeding and not knowing if he'd survive or not. Mercedes had been completely impotent when confronted with the supernatural, and she'd just gotten a taste of what it meant to be the mortal friend of a demi-god. Obviously, it had scared the crap out of her.

Sam wrapped his good arm around Mercedes' waist and she collapsed against him, her hot tears bathing his chest as she sobbed out her fear, frustration and relief. Her arms wrapped around Sam's waist as he whispered calming words to her, attempted to soothe her as best he could as he swayed gently and stroked her hair.

 _So, this was what it was to have friends_ , Sam mused as the bell for the end of lunch rang in the hallway outside the door. _To have people who cry for you, care for you, patch up your hurts and help you out of your scrapes._ It sounded exhausting, and he wondered how Mercedes found the strength to be there like this for so many people.

/

They skipped classes for the rest of the day, heading out to the parking lot when the coast was clear to hide out in the privacy of Mercedes' house. Sam knew that eventually she would recover enough to want to know what the demon wanted, but she seemed to be hovering on the edge of overloaded right now and Sam knew that one more push would be a push too far. He'd tell her tomorrow, after she'd rested and come to terms with the fact that he wasn't dead or dying. He wasn't even _injured_ anymore, but Sam knew that it wasn't so much the injury as the reality that would take Mercedes some getting used to. She'd just been smacked in the face with the hard truth of what he was, and she would need some time to get her head around that.

When they arrived back at Mercedes' house, Sam took the initiative and acted like it was a day like any other. He set up a Disney marathon for them to watch curled up together on Mercedes' bed and they even made popcorn, falling into their familiar argument of 'salty vs sweet' (sweet won). They had managed to get through five of the Disney classics before Mercedes fell into a fitful sleep, curled up against Sam's uninjured shoulder just as the fairy godmother started pimping rides in _Cinderella._

Sam had gently eased Mercedes off his shoulder and onto her pillows before he'd moved to the seat in the corner of her room. He'd stayed with her until the scraping of her parents' key in the lock downstairs told him that he wouldn't be leaving her alone. He wrapped a blanket around her as she clutched fretfully at her pillow before he tiptoed across her room and slid open her window, the general clink and clatter of keys being deposited and briefcases and jackets being put away downstairs masking any noise he made. Sam eased himself out of Mercedes' window, took one last look at the sleeping figure on the bed and then jumped down to the soft grass below with cat-like grace and super-sped it the two blocks home.


	6. Episode 6: Sweet Little Lies

**Episode 6.**

'Mercedes, we need to talk.'

It was the day after the demon had shown up at school, or D-day as Mercedes had taken to calling it. She was still feeling like she'd been run over by an emotional freight train, but she managed to muster up a half-hearted smile for her oldest friend. The smile faltered, however, once she'd noted the unusual tone of voice he'd used.

'Sure, Kurt.' Mercedes hedged as a feeling of dread began to build in her gut, 'You know I'd never turn down a chat.'

Kurt gave a brief, unsmiling nod and clutched at his bag tighter, his already pale knuckles turning stark white from the pressure.

'Kurt?' Mercedes extended her hand to give the boy's arm a concerned squeeze. 'Is everything ok?'

'You tell me.'

Kurt turned piercing blue eyes on her expectantly, waiting for her to say something, _what_ Mercedes didn't know. The truth was that she _wasn't_ ok. Not by a long shot, but she couldn't exactly announce to Kurt that she was still shaken from watching their mutual friend get attacked by a _demon_. _Oh! And by the way, did she mention that said mutual friend just_ happened _to be the love child of a goddess and a vampire?_

'I'm fine.' she lied, stopping at her locker and busying herself with entering the combination as she avoided the brunette's gaze.

'Really?' Kurt pushed with a tip of his head, 'Because the Mercedes Jones I know would have told me the _truth_ just now.'

Mercedes fumbled the sequence and had to start again.

 _Kurt couldn't_ _ **possibly**_ _know Sam's secret, could he? Had Sam told him? No, Sam would have said something if he had. Maybe he'd figured it out like she had… but Kurt had barely been around, how had he found the time to observe Sam the way she had done?_

The fashionisto watched Mercedes suddenly clumsy fingers fight to get her locker open and took it as a confirmation for his fears. He sighed and pushed his bag strap higher on his shoulder.

'Starting a riot over _tots_ , Mercedes?' Kurt supplied, ' _Really?_ '

Mercedes' locker door flew open with a clang and she stuck her head into it to breathe a quick sigh of relief away from her friend's judging eyes. Thank _God_ he hadn't found out about Sam.

'They have no right to take away our tots.' she explained in an uncertain voice, once she'd emerged, wondering if she sounded as ridiculous to Kurt as she did to herself.

The single eyebrow the teen raised at her was definitely evidence in favour of the former.

' _Mercedes.'_

 _You have to be believable,_ Mercedes reminded herself with an internal wince, she hated lying to people in general, and she _despised_ lying to her friends, but it had to be done.

'No, Kurt.' she said more decidedly, 'It's not fair. We have to sit through boring lessons and dodge slushies every day at this school! It is _not_ too much to ask to have something people enjoy on the lunch menu!'

There. That had sounded convincing, right?

'But starting a riot, Mercedes?' Kurt countered, and she shrugged, going for indifference as her brain raced for an answer.

'The students have a voice that needs to be heard.'

Kurt shook his head and breathed out a long, controlled sigh as he watched his friend shove books into her satchel.

'This is about me, isn't it?'

Though he had spoken the words tenderly, it was clear that Mercedes' supposed BFF had meant it to be more of a statement than a question. Mercedes' stopped sorting books as she tried to understand how Kurt could _possibly_ have arrived at that conclusion. Noticing Mercedes look of wide-eyed confusion, Kurt decided to explain.

'I've been spending a lot of time with Blaine lately,' he began and Mercedes had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. How about he tell her something she _didn't_ know.

'And that means I've been spending less time with you.' he continued.

Down the hall, Sam watched as Kurt and Mercedes stood talking intensely to each other. He caught Mercedes eye and cut his eyes to Kurt's back, silently asking her if she was ok. She gave the tiniest of nods and he relaxed, from where he was standing it didn't look like their conversation was a pleasant one, but if Mercedes said she was fine then he was going to trust her judgement. Sam could have listened in, of course, but he'd never encroach on a a friend's privacy like that. Besides, he knew that

Mercedes would have his hide if she ever found out he'd done such a thing.

Mercedes had zoned out slightly during her wordless exchange with Sam, so she didn't catch Kurt's quick glance over his shoulder to follow her eye line. When he caught sight of the blond quarterback his jaw clenched and he pressed on, dispensing with niceties in favour of getting out what he wanted to say.

'I think you were substituting me for a boyfriend.' he told her bluntly when she'd looked back to him, 'and I think that now I'm not around as much you're substituting food for love.'

Kurt leaned back, arms folded across his chest as Mercedes fought to find the words to respond. To say she was stunned would be an understatement. Shocked, appalled and wanting to smack Kurt upside his head would be more accurate.

' _Excuse you?'_

'You heard what I said, Mercedes.' Kurt retorted, looking contrite. 'It's not healthy, and this tots thing is an opportunity for you to see that.'

Mercedes opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, squeezing her eyes shut and taking deep breaths to stop herself from saying or doing something that would get her in trouble.

'I… understand why you might think that, Kurt.' she tried to keep her voice measured. 'But you're _way_ off the mark this time.'

Kurt's brows knitted together and he put a hand on her shoulder, genuine concern written on his face.

'Look, Mercedes, I'm not trying to be a bitch here. I just want you to be happy.'

She tried to smile but she was still completely thrown by his analysis of her and their relationship. _Was that really all he thought their friendship was?_

'I'm fine, Kurt.' Mercedes repeated tightly, hoping that the brunette would hear her invitation to drop the subject in her tone.

Kurt sighed deeply but dropped his hand from her shoulder, lowering his head to study his Vivienne Westwood boots as he thought.

Sam had been joking with some of his teammates from the football team, but he still noticed when Mercedes' demeanour changed. He caught her eye again and raised an eyebrow and Mercedes knew that all she'd have to do was give a signal and Sam would be over to save her from this hideous, trainwreck of a conversation. For a moment she considered it, before shaking her head slightly. She could handle this thing with Kurt, she _would_ handle it, even if it was intensely uncomfortable.

Kurt turned in time to see Sam shoot Mercedes a nod in return before easing himself back into the group conversation.

'You're playing with fire you know.' he warned her, lifting a hand to his hair to make sure it was in place. It was lunchtime, so they'd had a little more time to talk than usual, but the bell was due to ring soon so they started off slowly in direction of their next classes.

Mercedes shook her head at him in question, sure that whatever Kurt was about to say would be some other misinterpreted idiocy.

'With Sam.' Kurt supplied.

Yup. She _knew_ it.

'Sam is a friend, Kurt.'

'Sam is the boyfriend of one of your closest friends.' the taller boy reminded her.

'So?'

'So this crush you have on him has to stop!' Kurt demanded, halting abruptly in the hallway to face her. 'It's not fair to either of you and it's not fair to Quinn.'

 _Good God,_ Mercedes thought as she stared up into Kurt's irritated face. _He really doesn't know me at_ _ **all**_ _,_ she realised. _First I'm subbing food for love and now I'm trying to steal a guy from_ _ **Quinn**_ _? Does he even realise how_ _ **laughable**_ _that is?_

'Nothing is going on between me and Sam.' Mercedes said sternly, realising as she did that it actually wasn't _entirely_ true. Still, it definitely wasn't what Kurt was thinking either.

'I _saw you,_ Mercedes.' The brunette whispered angrily back. 'Ducking into the janitor's closet, yesterday! What the hell was _that_ about then, huh?'

For a moment Mercedes was taken aback. She hadn't thought anyone had seen them yesterday, but she'd admittedly been more concerned with Sam's wound than she had been with anything else.

She went to explain that she was just helping Sam with an injury when she suddenly realised that with Sam's super fast healing there was absolutely _no_ evidence to back up her story. It would look like she was lying, and then they'd both look even _more_ guilty.

'Sam had to ask me something privately.' Mercedes explained after a second. 'About Quinn.'

'And you couldn't have talked about that somewhere public?' It was obvious that Kurt didn't really believe her, but Mercedes pressed on anyway.

'Yes. It was _really_ private, and you know what this school's like. Quinn's the head cheerleader, if we talked about it in public it would be back to her in seconds.'

Kurt considered what she'd said and looked somewhat placated, but that didn't stop him from asking his next question.

'So what did he ask you about?'

Mercedes opened and closed her mouth a few times as she tried to think, of course Sam hadn't asked her anything, she'd pulled that from thin air, but now she had to think of something… _or did she?_

'It was _private,_ Kurt!' she rolled her eyes and batted at the other teen's chest with a small laugh, 'As in _I can't tell you,'_ she added, 'I'm not that person, but nice try!' she nudged him with her shoulder, hoping that he would follow where she was leading.

'Ok, fine!' Kurt threw up his hands in exasperation, a smile playing on his face. 'But now I'm curious, and it's not fair for you to dangle that information in front of me and then not tell me!' he gave her a little nudge back and Mercedes did her best not to sag with relief. He believed her. _Hallelujah,_ he believed her. At least that was _one_ thing she didn't have to worry about anymore.

Mercedes was relieved when the bell went and she parted ways with Kurt with less remorse than she was used to as they made their way to their separate classes.

'Are you two good now?'

Sam filed into class behind her, hovering near the door as he looked down into her expressive brown eyes. Usually he could figure out what Mercedes was thinking, but right now he had no clue.

'Not really.' the dark-haired girl sighed and fiddled with the fastening of her hoop earring. 'I actually think we're worse.' she admitted as the teacher came in, forcing them to their own workbenches. Sam flashed his friend a sympathetic smile over his shoulder before he turned his attention to the front of the class. AP Physics was no joke, and he'd have to concentrate hard if he wanted to pass, but when the teacher had stopped talking and assigned them their tasks, Sam tore a corner from his notebook and scribbled a note on it, lobbing it with perfect aim across the room onto Mercedes' desk as soon as the teacher's attention was elsewhere.

 _You wanna talk about it?_

Mercedes read the note and grabbed her pen to write a response, handing it to the guy at the end of her table to pass to Sam.

 _Not really. I don't think there's much to say._

Sam read her response and nodded back, sending another message not seeming necessary.

Mercedes gave him a small smile in thanks and turned back to her work. She'd completed two exercises when a thought occurred to her, and she wrote out a quick note of her own and sent it over to the blond boy focused intently on his work.

 _I want to know about yesterday._

Sam sighed, staring at the note in his hand as he thought about what the demon had said to him. He'd known he'd have to tell Mercedes eventually, but he could admit that he'd hoped she'd forget about it and never ask. His pen hovered over the paper as he thought about his reply jotting down a few words before he folded the paper and tossed it back to her.

 _Free after Glee club?_

He watched as she unfolded the note and scanned what he'd written, after a brief pause where she was apparently thinking about the answer to his question she looked up at him and nodded. Sam nodded back and turned around to concentrate on the task in front of him. He stared at the open textbook on the desk but didn't really see it, his mind was off replaying his interaction with the demon, and the myriad of questions it had raised. He wondered what Mercedes would say, what she would suggest they do… Sam ran a distracted hand through his hair and then moved to smooth it again. _What would Mercedes Jones do?_ Sam guessed that in a few hours he'd find out.


	7. Episode 7: Jurassic Love

**Episode 7.**

'It wanted to know where my dad was.'

Sam and Mercedes were lying side by side on a blanket in the park where Sam had first told Mercedes who he was. He had whizzed home to get something to spread over the grass straight after Glee club, and they'd been lying there for a while, staring up at the sky without saying anything as they watched the clouds pass by overhead.

'Who did?'

Mercedes rolled her head to the side to look at him. She'd been so caught up in making shapes out of the clouds that it took her a moment to remember why they were there.

'Oh _._ '

Mercedes turned to face the sky again as she processed, and then abruptly sat up, panic written all over her face.

'Wait, _what?_ They want Dwight? What did he do? Is he ok? We should get him somewhere saf…'

Sam's hand wrapped around her arm and tugged her gently to get her to lay down again.

'Dwight is fine.' He assured her, smiling at her eagerness to protect his family.

'He wasn't the dad they wanted.'

Sam moved his head so he could look at her, his hands resting loosely on his stomach rising softly up and down as he breathed.

Mercedes eyes widened into perfect circles as she heard the implication in his words.

'Oh.' she was silent for a moment. ' _Oh.'_

 _'_ _Yeah_.'

Sam's gaze returned to the clouds as the silence descended again.

'I guess it makes more sense that they'd want your vampire dad,' she accepted, 'Do you know why?' Mercedes asked curiously, rolling onto her stomach and plucking at a blade of grass, to run the greenery through her fingers as she spoke.

'I don't know.' Sam shrugged, reaching up to free a strand of Mercedes' hair that had gotten tangled in her earring during her change in position. 'It certainly seemed important to them that they find him though.'

'So… what? They think you know where he is?' Mercedes asked trying to fit all the pieces together as she spoke.

Sam shook his head.

'No. At least, not anymore. I told them that I didn't know where he was, but they didn't believe me at first.' he explained. 'That's why Demon-Dude got slash happy.'

Sam raised his arms to cradle his hands behind his head as he watched a few birds fly overhead, their silhouettes dark against the bright sky.

Mercedes shuddered, not enjoying the reminder of the emotional sucker punch of the day before.

'I don't understand.'

Sam sighed and rolled over so he was on his stomach too, his hand automatically coming up to rub the point where the demon's knife had punctured his flesh even though it was now nothing but an almost faded pink scar.

'Neither do I, exactly,' he admitted, 'but the demon said something about 'tasting the truth in my blood."

Mercedes' face screwed up in instant disgust, contorting into a grimace that Sam couldn't help but laugh at. The girl looked so completely grossed out.

'Ew.'

'It wasn't the most pleasant lunchtime experience I've ever had.' Sam agreed, a stray chuckle making its way out of his mouth.

They were quiet for a moment longer, 'So _do_ you know where he is?' Mercedes asked, 'Your vampire dad I mean?'

'Uhn-uh.' Sam shook his head. 'I haven't seen or heard from _that_ dad since I was twelve.'

Mercedes swayed to nudge his shoulder with her own as she tried to comfort away the sadness her friend's voice had betrayed.

'I'm sorry.'

Sam shrugged as he tried to seem unconcerned, his problems with his dad were an issue for another day, but his lips twitched into a grateful smile as he playfully nudged his friend back.

'Thanks.'

Sam flipped over and sat up, scooting his butt to the top of the blanket so he could lean back on his hands and still see Mercedes' expressions as she remained on her stomach.

'You know, honestly, I'm not sure it's such a bad thing.' He expanded thoughtfully, his eyes once again on the clouds above. 'Daddy dearest is a 600 year old vampire. To him, young kids must seem even younger and _more_ annoying. It doesn't seem like such a good idea to put a creature with huge strength and wavering control in a room with annoying small I don't think he was all that paternal to start with.'

Mercedes laughed and Sam let out a little chuckle of his own, automatically feeling better for being able to talk about it.

'Besides,' Sam reached out and plucked a daisy from the grass, twirling the stem between his fingers. 'He was nobility back in Sweden even before he was turned so he has the tendency to be a little insufferable.'

Beside him Mercedes raised an eyebrow and waited for him to expand on the little piece of information he'd just thrown in super casually.

'What?'

'You want to go back and explain that 'my dad is nobility' thing a little better?' Mercedes prompted, 'because if you come here on that 'oh, by the way I'm secretly royalty' ish I'm going to smack you.'

Sam bit back a grin and attempted to look wounded.

'Why would you smack me for something that has no relevance to me, my upbringing or my life?' he questioned, 'Just because my dad used to be a king…'

'No.' Mercedes sat up shaking her head as she dusted off her top. 'Na-uh, no way. If you are a prince too then I am _done._ '

It was probably all of about 10 seconds before Sam collapsed into laughter on the blanket, his body bobbing with the force until he rolled onto his back so he could laugh unencumbered.

'Ahhh…' He let out a sigh as he reached up to wipe the tears away from his eyes, skillfully ignoring the glare Mercedes was shooting his way.

'I'm just messing with you, Cede.' He confessed as a few last giggles rose to the surface. 'My dad's just from some old, noble family in Sweden. I can't even remember what his title was, maybe a knight or a duke or something?' Sam shrugged. 'Anyway, it's long done with now, as far as most people are concerned my dad died a long time ago.'

'Hmm.' Mercedes hummed, one eyebrow raised to express her skepticism. After a moment she flopped back onto the blanket to lay on her back next to Sam.

'So, no guesses as to what the demon wanted him for?'

'Nope.' Sam drew out the word so his lips made a smacking noise on the 'p'. 'I tried to get some kind of a clue from the shadow demon, but it wouldn't tell me _anything._ '

'Well, that's freaky _._ '

'Tell me about it.' Sam agreed, 'but at least it's done with. They know I don't know anything so…'

Mercedes sat up, her expression grave as she watched Sam talk.

'Sam.' She interrupted. ' _Sam!'_

Sam's eyes had drifted shut as he'd talked, silently thankful that his run in with demons was short and unobtrusive, but at the sound of Mercedes' insistent voice his eyes flew open again.

'What?' he asked, slightly annoyed. 'Why are you yelling?'

Mercedes shifted her eyes away from Sam's face uncomfortably as he sat up, wishing that she didn't have to bring this up but knowing that it was in Sam's best interests that she did so.

'Do you think…' she began, and then shook her head in favour of a different opening. 'Have you considered,' she asked her blond friend quietly, 'that if you're the only connection they have to your father… that they might come back?'

Sam frowned at her, his lips pouted slightly as he thought about it.

'But I already told them that I don't know anything. They _know_ that's true.'

'Yeah, but…' Mercedes fiddled with the top of her sneaker, as she avoided Sam's concerned eyes. 'you're his son. What if they try to use you as leverage? Or if they use your blood to locate _his_ blood? Or…'

Sam's hand invaded her line of vision and stilled the fingers that had been worrying at the top fastening of her high top.

'Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.' he insisted, letting go of her hand once he was sure that she wouldn't start frantically pulling at her shoes again.

'I couldn't do anything the last time.' She complained, her voice low, 'If that demon had _really_ hurt you, then I wouldn't have…'

'I wouldn't want you to.' Sam's voice was so authoritative that Mercedes' eyes snapped up to look at him.

'I _don't_ want you to.' Sam continued in that same tone. 'Look, Mercedes, you're my friend, but you're also _mortal_ and I don't want you to go getting yourself hurt or killed because you're trying to help me, ok? I can handle it.'

'But what if…'

'I. Can. _Handle_. It.' Sam repeated deliberately, cutting off any argument Mercedes might have been about to make. 'If you see a demon, or if one starts following you or _anything_ like that, I need you to promise me that you won't do anything other than tell me, ok?'

Mercedes was giving him the look of death across from him on the blanket, but he pressed the issue anyway. This was one thing he would _not_ be moved from.

' _Promise me_ , Mercedes.'

Sam watched as his best friend tensed her jaw and knew that their discussion was not going to end well.

'No.'

' _Mercedes…'_

 _'_ No.'

' _Why-'_

'Can I ask you something?' Mercedes interrupted sharply, her arms folded determinedly across her chest. 'If it were the other way around, and I asked _you_ to stay out of it, would you?'

Sam bit his lip, the conversation was about to turn against him, and for once he wished that Mercedes was the kind of girl who would just accept what he'd said without trying to argue about it.

'It's not the same, Mercedes and you know it.'

'I do _not_ know it!' the girl argued, her eyebrows raised in challenge.

'Demons are _dangerous!'_

' _Life_ is dangerous, Sam.' Mercedes shot back as she climbed to her feet. Once she was standing she whirled around to look at Sam, who stared at her with a look of open-mouthed frustration on his face for about two heartbeats before he was up on his own feet and facing her.

'Because you're _mortal!'_ He pointed out, his annoyance getting the better of him. 'Life is dangerous for you _because_ you are mortal… and _fragile._ '

Sam paced a few steps away from Mercedes and ran a hand through his hair, after a second he turned and came back, stopping closer to her than he had been before, his eyes blazing.

'Do you even realise that _anything_ could kill you?' he demanded, 'At any second? You could drop dead right now, in front of me, and there wouldn't be a _thing_ I could do about it. Even with all the abilities I have, I wouldn't be able to do a _thing._ Ok?'

Sam looked so distressed that Mercedes wondered briefly if the boy was going to cry. All his frustration seemed to be spilling out at once and his words tumbled out one after another like a tide that he had no way of stopping.

'Because _that's_ life, Mercedes.' He went on, his green eyes intense as he looked down at her, _begging_ her to understand.

'That's _your_ life.' He pressed tenderly, his voice rasping as he spoke, 'and I can't change that. But what I _can_ do is do my best to protect you from all the _shit_ that you wouldn't have to deal with if you didn't know about me.'

Sam held Mercedes' gaze with his own for a brief moment, letting all of that sink in before he spoke again. ' _That_ is the one thing I _can_ do for you, so would you _please_ just… _let me do it._ '

Sam's ragged breathing was the only sound that could be heard in the heated silence that stretched between them, and he looked away, refusing to meet Mercedes' eyes again as he got himself under control. Sam had never been able to voice his fears like that before, and he'd never felt so vulnerable as he did now with all his fears laid bare for Mercedes to see. He could feel her looking at him, see her blinking up at him in his periphery, but he still couldn't bring himself to look at her until she spoke.

' _Ok_.'

Sam had been expecting Mercedes to try to argue with him, or to kick up a fuss so when he heard her soft acquiescence his head snapped up to make sure that he'd heard her correctly.

Mercedes looked about as emotional as he felt, and her big, brown eyes glistened with unshed tears as she regarded him quietly, her straight, white teeth worrying at her lower lip.

'Ok?' he parroted and the dark-skinned girl nodded, her gaze sliding away from his as she focused her attention on collecting up the blanket and folding it neatly.

'You know,' Mercedes doubled the blanket lengthwise and then moved her hand to the end of the fabric to find the new corner. 'Yesterday, I was _so_ angry that I couldn't help you. So _frustrated_ that all I could do was watch you deal with that… _thing_.' She took a deep breath, blowing it out through pursed lips as she finished folding the blanket and draped it over her arm.

'But I never _once_ considered that… that's how you feel about _us_ … _All the time.'_

Mercedes clutched the blanket in both hands and held it out towards Sam like a peace offering, her attention seemingly caught up in examining the red piping against the midnight blue of the plaid design.

'I didn't think about how _scary_ it must be for you… to be around people whose life spans are so much… shorter… than yours.'

Mercedes' voice came out sounding stilted as she wracked her brain for the right words to explain her thoughts and feelings. She _knew_ that she could never hope to beat a demon on her own, Sam was right - she was mortal and no match for a supernatural creature built with more resilience than her- but Mercedes still hated having to admit it.

'It's kind of like watching toddlers on a construction site.' Sam admitted, a small smile playing on his face as he reached out to take the blanket from her, a hand braced on the top and bottom of the folded fabric.

'How do you _stand_ it?' Mercedes inquired quietly into the wool still clutched between them as she had yet to let go.

'Mostly I just accept it… but that's harder to do with the people that I care about.'

 _Mercedes_ had become one of those people _._ Sam's words hung heavy in the air and whispered the implication into her Mercedes brain. In no time at all, she'd become one of the people Sam worried about and sought to protect. Mercedes nodded as it slowly dawned on her that Sam had become one of those people for _her_ too. It had snuck up on her, but all of a sudden Mercedes was aware that she was thinking about Sam the same way she thought of Kurt, Quinn, or her brother, Carlos.

Maybe that was why she was trying to fight Sam so hard, Mercedes mused, because she didn't want to think about not being able to help those she considered her family if they needed it.

'Maybe not all demons are bad.' Mercedes suggested feebly, knowing that it was already clear to them both that she had surrendered the argument but not wanting to go down without at least a semblance of a fight.

'Do you really want to take that chance?' Sam posited just as quietly, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

Mercedes let go of the blanket and Sam took it from her, pinned the wadded fabric under his arm and shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he looked at his friend. He wasn't going to push her, but Sam's silence was telling as Mercedes stroked at her hair delicately before letting out a small sigh.

 _'_ _Fine_. I'll stay away from demons.' She agreed, letting out a surprised squeak as Sam wrapped his free arm around her shoulders to drag her closer for a relieved hug.

' _Thank you_.'

'Yeah, yeah.'

Mercedes lightly at his chest to get him to release her and Sam complied by dropping his arm. Lifting it a moment later to make sure the blanket was still secure as he and Mercedes began to make their way out of the park.

'So basically,' Sam said after a while, 'at the core of our friendship is a mutual fear of not being able to stop the other from getting hurt.'

Mercedes snorted, squinting as the setting sun reflected pink into her eyes, bouncing off a row of cars parked nearby.

'Yeah, probably.' She acknowledged with a slight nod. 'Among other things.'

'Wow.'

Sam looked straight ahead of him, as if he were focusing on something in the far distance and Mercedes followed his gaze curiously, only to accept that whatever the blond was seeing was too far away for her eyes.

'What was that?' Mercedes asked, turning her attention back to the tall boy beside her when she became aware that he was saying something to her.

'I _said,_ ' Sam's eyes glittered as he looked down at her, a small smirk on his lips. 'That _I love you…_ ' he crooned, 'and _you love me,_ and _we're a happy family…_ '

'You better stop.' Mercedes warned, her head wobbling slightly on her neck as she prepared to unleash the diva.

 _'_ _With a great big hug…'_ Sam sang, dancing out of her way with an amused laugh when she made a grab for him.

' _And a kiss from me to you_ …'

Mercedes made another grab at him, and Sam ran a few steps away from her, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he playfully taunted her.

'Boy, don't you _dare_ finish singing that song.' The girl warned him pointedly, the threat echoing in her words.

' _Won't you say…'_

Mercedes took off after him and Sam sped off away from her, the sound of his laughter lingering behind him as he darted out of her grasp again.

 _'_ _That's an unfair advantage!'_ Mercedes complained, pouting at Sam's use of super-speed as he slipped out of her grasp and disappeared from sight.

'You're right.' Sam sighed, appearing at her side in an instant and holding his hands up in front of him in surrender. 'It's just nice when there's no one around.' He shrugged and dropped a friendly arm around her shoulders as he walked her towards her car.

'I'll see you tomorrow.' Sam informed Mercedes as they cleared the trees, readjusting the blanket under his arm as he prepared to run home.

'Mmmhm.'

Sam grinned, knowing that she was still being salty because of the _Barney_ thing.

'And if you see anything supernaturally suspicious…' Sam's tone became serious as he turned the short girl towards him by her shoulders, looking into her eyes to drive home the significance of what he was saying.

'I'll tell you.' Mercedes recited with an exaggerated roll of her eyes which Sam chose to ignore.

'Good.' He said, holding out his fist for her to bump before he turned to leave.

'Oh, and Mercedes?' he asked, one foot off the pavement as he swiveled the top part of his body around to look at her.

'Yes?'

'Don't be mad.'

Mercedes eyes narrowed as she ran over his words again in her head in an effort to figure out what he meant.

'Why would I be mad?' she asked curiously but Sam just cocked a half-smile at her and stepped down completely off the pavement in preparation for the run home.

'You'll know.' He assured her before he was gone, no doubt already half way to his house.

Mercedes shook her head as she turned back to her car and unlocked it. She'd climbed behind the wheel, shut the door and slid on her seatbelt before she noticed the slip of paper propped up against her dashboard.

 _You love me too._

'I do _not._ ' Mercedes protested, picking up the torn sheet covered in Sam's telltale handwriting. She flipped it over and had to smile when she caught sight of where Sam had written,

 _'_ _Yes you do. I'm your new best friend!'_ on the back, clearly preempting the fact that she would try to argue.

Mercedes fished her phone out of her pocket with a bemused shake of her head and tapped out a text message to her self-proclaimed 'New Best Friend', tossing her cell into the well between the seats as she headed off for home.

Sam was already home by the time his phone buzzed, and he allowed himself a self-satisfied grin when he saw that it was from Mercedes – she must have found his note.

 _I'm not mad, but you ARE a dork. And didn't I warn you not to finish that song? Don't think you got away with that, buddy. You gon' pay._

Sam smirked at the message, glad that the seriousness of the past few days seemed to have left them behind. It had taken an emotional toll on the both of them, and Sam only hoped that it would be a long time before _either of them_ saw another demon.

He sent back a text message before he slid his phone into his pocket and settled down to do his homework. He was supposed to meet Quinn in a couple of hours, so Sam knew that he needed to get to work if he wanted to get done in time. He picked up his pen, a smile on his lips as he imagined Mercedes' face when she saw his reply.

 _Bring it on._


	8. Episode 8: The BS in BSU

**Episode 8.**

'How much do you love me?'

Mercedes let out a short laugh and turned her head to take in the overly excited expression on Kurt Hummel's perfectly moisturised face. Things had been a little weird between the two of them since their argument a few days before, but she could tell that the brunette was at least trying to rebuild bridges with her. Shaking her head a little bit as she slid her books into her locker, Mercedes turned to face her friend and raised a questioning eyebrow.

'Why?'

'Because...' Kurt clapped his hands together and bounced on the balls of his feet managing to looking for all intents and purposes like a kid in a toy store.

'I spent all of yesterday thinking really hard about this situation between you and me,' Kurt explained with a wrinkle of his nose to show his distaste, 'and then I called Blaine,'

The boy missed Mercedes' pointed eye roll at the mention of the Warbler's name, and went on completely oblivious to her reaction, 'and we put our heads together and... well, we think we've found a solution!'

We? Mercedes thought sourly, they were thinking in the plural now?

But what she actually said was, 'Go on.'

'We...' Kurt said, threading Mercedes' arm through his as soon as she'd closed her locker door, 'are going to find you a date!'

The fashionisto steered the young woman towards the cafeteria, a placid look on his face as he considered the genius of the idea, and how much fun it had been chatting to Blaine on the phone the night before.

Mercedes' stared incredulously at Kurt's ear for a few seconds as she tripped along beside him, and then she made herself really think about what the teen had said.

A date didn't actually sound that bad, and she figured that it would certainly be nice to do something normal for a change. It had been a while since Mercedes had done anything that wasn't in some way related to Gods and Demons and she found herself warming to the idea as she and Kurt reached the lunchroom and joined the end of the queue. After a few minutes Mercedes spoke up, Kurt's blue eyes studying her as she made her decision.

'Ok...'

'Yay!' Kurt did a little dance on the spot that made Mercedes bite back a smile. The boy was just too damn happy that she'd said yes.

'Let's not get carried away!' Mercedes warned, trying to sound stern even though her heart was rejoicing at the fact that they seemed to be getting back to normal again. 'There's no guarantee there'll even be anyone at this school I'd want to date.'

'Ah, well.' Kurt stopped and grabbed a plastic container holding a sad looking salad without so much as a snarky comment on the meaning of the word, 'fresh'. The boy was too wrapped up in imparting his news, his face barely containing his excitement as he looked down at her.

'I've got a little surprise for you, because...' Kurt seemed to be vibrating on the spot he was so excited. Mercedes wondered who the hell he could be getting that excited about, was Dwayne Johnson taking her out on a date? Trey Songz? Perhaps Chris Hemsworth was waiting around the corner with a bunch of flowers and a hopeful expression.

Except wasn't he married? Mercedes bit her lip as she tried to remember.

'Anthony Rashad!' Kurt said with a raise of his eyebrows, interrupting Mercedes' thought process to look at her expectantly.

'What about him?' Mercedes asked disinterestedly as she realised that the older Hemsworth was, indeed, married... the younger Hemsworth on the other hand...

'I googled him.' Kurt explained, much to Mercedes continued confusion. 'Did you know he's president of the Black Student's Union and a wide receiver for the Titans?'

'Yeeees.' Mercedes said cautiously, an uncomfortable realisation beginning to niggle at the back of her mind.

'Well?' Kurt's eyes dimmed slightly as his friend seemed to be less than enthused by the idea. 'He's handsome, right?'

Mercedes looked over to where Anthony was sitting only to find the football player already looking at her. He smiled, and Mercedes gave him a little wave in response before she turned back to Kurt.

'Ok,' Mercedes began cautiously, continuing before Kurt could get too excited about her perceived acceptance. 'I admit the first time I saw him I thought he was cute, but... Kurt, he and I have known each other since third grade and he's never even spoken to me. He's obviously not that interested, and besides that we have nothing in common.'

Kurt looked momentarily dejected as he speared a baby tomato on his fork. 'I think he might be in your World Civ class...' Kurt added, but he didn't look sure.

'And then there's the Black Student's Union.' The brunette reminded her, his blue eyes intent on Mercedes'.

So? Mercedes wanted to yell at him, so far the only reason she could possibly see for Kurt suggesting Anthony - instead of the hundreds of other guys at the school she had more in common with - was that he was black.

The young woman took a deep, cleansing breath and decided to throw Kurt a bone. Maybe she was reading too much into his selection when there was more to it than that. Kurt had been on the football team with Anthony, after all. Maybe the two of them had bonded?

'Any other, non-black activities?' Mercedes asked carefully, her heart sinking when Kurt shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

'Well, that was all I could get out of the Google search so...'

'So what made you pick him out?' Mercedes questioned, her temper bubbling just below her calm exterior. 'Why him and not someone else?'

'I thought you'd have more in common with him.' Kurt mumbled into his salad, already sensing that he may have made a _faux pas_ as far as this one was concerned.

'Why?' Mercedes repeated, her eyes entreating even as her mouth was stern. 'Did you even talk to him before you decided to set us up?'

Kurt shook his head from side to side, his unmoving, perfectly coiffed hair hairsprayed to resist a hurricane.

'So, your basis for thinking that we'd make a good couple is that we have a similar skin colour?'

Mercedes didn't wait for Kurt to respond that time, she knew what his answer would be. She began to gather her largely untouched meal, shoving the things she could save for later, like her juice and apple, into her bag and prepared to bin the rest.

'So I take it you're refusing to go, then?'

Oh, he did not. just. use. that. tone. with. her. Mercedes had just started to turn back to give Kurt a piece of her mind when the bell rang, giving her time to compose herself and refrain from smacking her so-called best friend up the side of his head.

Mercedes deposited her tray and shouldered her bag, already halfway to the door.

'I'll talk to you later, Kurt.'

/

When it looked like Kurt was going to try and press her on the Anthony Rashad thing after glee, Mercedes instinctively grabbed Sam and pretended to be engrossed in a conversation with him. Although the blond looked confused at Mercedes' antics, she was relieved when he merely shrugged and played along.

'So, you're avoiding Kurt now?' Sam asked quietly, his eyes telegraphing to her that he had no idea what was going on.

'Hmm?' Mercedes' attention was trained on the doorway as she waited for Kurt to walk past, so she missed what Sam said and had to get him to repeat it.

'Oh.' she said when he was done. 'Yeah, he's trying to...' Mercedes forced herself to stop before she could get into it and start ranting. She managed a small, tight smile before dismissing it, with, 'You know what? It's a long story.'

Sam raised his eyebrows but didn't push for an answer, and a few moments later Mercedes let out a relieved breath at his side as Kurt walked past.

'Sooo, can we go now?' Sam asked cautiously, blinking at his friend through his bangs.

'Um... ' Mercedes hesitated for a moment, her eyes flicking towards the door.

Sam sighed and took a seat on the piano bench to look up at her.

'There are still people out there.' He supplied, sensing that was the cause of Mercedes' hesitation. He patted the bench next to him and looked hopefully up at her.

'So, if you wanted to change your mind about telling me that story, we have time.'

Mercedes bit her lip, her shoe scuffing at the choir room floor as she considered whether or not she should just tell Sam to let the whole thing go. The blond cleared his throat deliberately and cut his eyes to the seat next to him just as Mercedes decided that the matter wasn't really important enough to start keeping secrets over, and settled herself onto the bench next to him.

'Do you want to tell Uncle Sammy?' Sam said, wiggling his eyebrows at her, and Mercedes giggled despite her annoyance at the whole Kurt situation and leaned into her friend's shoulder.

'It's just becoming increasingly likely to me that Kurt doesn't know me as well as I thought he did. ' Mercedes admitted after a moment. Sam frowned at her words, trying to figure out how that fit in with what he already knew about the strains that were appearing in Kurt and Mercedes' relationship.

'Because of Blaine?' he suggested, but Mercedes shook her head.

'Nope.' The movement of Mercedes' head made her chunky boombox necklace jangle as she spoke. 'This one is all Kurt.'

'What did he do?'

'Tried to set me up with Anthony Rashad on the basis of skin colour and google results.' Mercedes stated simply, nodding her head slowly when Sam looked taken aback.

'Yup. That's what I thought too.

'Anthony is all kinds of wrong for you.' Sam frowned, leaning back against the piano as a look of incredulity settled on his handsome features.

'He's like...' Sam shook his head, apparently unable to finish that sentence. His brow furrowed as he tried to think of what on earth Kurt had been thinking in setting Mercedes up with the football player.

Sure, Anthony was ok on the field, but in Sam's opinion the guy was also kind of an ass off it. He didn't want to say anything, in case Mercedes was actually considering dating the guy, but Sam had never really liked his team mate.

Anthony was the kind of guy who liked to brag in the locker room about how far he'd gotten with certain girls - and there'd been a lot of those - and the dude seemed to like the inexperienced ones the best. He'd pick them up, show them a good time and seem like the perfect gentleman until they either let him into their heart or their panties. Then a few weeks later Anthony would get bored and move on to the next girl leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him.

Sam supposed that Anthony wasn't as big a dick about it as he could have been, he let the girls down gentle at least, but Sam still wanted the guy far away from his best friend.

'I know.' Mercedes was saying, 'he's never even spoken to me before, and we've known each other for years.' she supplied, 'Kurt couldn't even give me one thing we had in common other than that he thought Anthony was in my World Civ class. Which he _isn't_.'

'Coast's clear.' Sam told her, standing up from the bench and offering her a hand to do the same.

'I've got to be honest, I'm not really understanding why Kurt picked Rashad out for you.' Sam confessed as the pair of them left the choir room and made their way to the parking lot, their steps easily falling into pace with each other as they walked.

'No.' Mercedes agreed, 'Me neither. Except, as Kurt kept stressing, Anthony is president of the 'Black Student's Union'' Mercedes put an irritated emphasis on the phrase and looked bitterly out across the lot. Both their cars were easy to spot in the almost empty parking lot. Only a few faculty cars were left, as almost everyone else had rushed home as soon as the final bell had rung.

'So, what are you going to do?' Sam looked concerned as he shouldered his bag and slowed his pace a little bit, prolonging his journey to his car so they could finish their conversation.

Mercedes stopped next to a newer looking hybrid car and shrugged. She hugged her arms close to her chest and found her eyes locked on the middle distance as she thought.

'I don't know.' her voice sounded small and lost as she spoke the indecision already weighing heavy on her mind.

'On the one hand, I don't want to date Anthony.'

Sam was momentarily relieved to hear that he probably wouldn't have to compel Anthony to not be a douchebag after all.

'But,' Mercedes continued, and Sam began to worry at his lip at the prospect of what she might say. 'I don't want to ruin the progress Kurt and I have made. We're only just getting back to that place again and I don't want to say no and undo all of that.

Sam nodded and reached out a hand to lightly touch his friend's arm.

'Sleep on it.' he advised, watching as Mercedes' conflicting emotions danced across her face. 'It'll probably seem clearer in the morning.'

Mercedes sighed, dropping her hands to her sides again as she absently scanned the metallic red paintwork of the car next to her.

'You're probably right.' the dark-haired girl allowed, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she brought her gaze up to meet that of the blond jock again. 'Thanks for the advice... and for listening.' she added, feeling bad for roping Sam into waiting with her. 'Thanks for staying with me too.'

Sam shot her an unconcerned half grin and shrugged his bag higher on his shoulder.

'What are friends for?'

Mercedes smiled back, but her smile faded when the previously warm sun disappeared abruptly and left them both cloaked in shade.

'Oh Lord, please do not let it rain.' Mercedes prayed, her mind, and hands, already on her weave. She turned to run in the direction of her car but Sam stopped her with a strong hand to her upper arm.

'Uh, Mercedes?' Sam spoke quietly though gritted teeth and Mercedes turned to look at him with confusion and annoyance in her eyes.

'Why are you holding me so tight, Sam?' she demanded, 'It's going to rain and I don't want to get my hair wet!'

'Mercedes.' Sam bit out again, but his feisty friend was too intent on getting him to release her arm.

'Sam.'

'Mercedes.' Keeping her close to his body, Sam spun the small woman around gently by the arm and subtly motioned his head towards the sky.

Mercedes' eyes followed his gaze, and immediately both her hands were up over her mouth as she fought to contain her scream.

The sun hadn't gone away.

It was being blocked out...

...by huge, leathery wings.


	9. Episode 9: Firefighting for Dummies

**Episode 9**

'Is that… a _dragon?_ ' Mercedes asked after a long moment, her voice was oddly quiet and deceptively calm as her wide eyes stayed fixed on the creature hovering over them.

'It's a demon.' Sam corrected, snaking one arm around Mercedes waist and inching her marginally closer as he too fixed his eyes on the huge dragon above.

He'd never dealt with dragons before. That was the thought that kept pushing itself to the forefront of Sam's mind - alongside 'protect Mercedes' - but judging by the sheer size of the thing, Sam wasn't sure how well he'd hold up if it came down to a fight. The creature's wingspan _easily_ covered over half the parking lot, and it's body, though lean was still the size of a medium sized truck. Sam's grip tightened imperceptibly on Mercedes waist as he waited for the dragon to make a move.

'Demons are dragons?' Mercedes was asking, her voice still eerily conversational and Sam answered without turning to look at her.

'Dragons are demons.'

' _Oh_.'

Mercedes nodded politely, as if Sam had just informed her of the time and she hadn't been prepared to scream herself hoarse moments earlier. Her panic was subsiding now and was quickly being replaced by weary resignation. Mercedes didn't want to think about how easily she was adjusting to having demons show up practically on her doorstep.

'What do you want?' Mercedes called up to the creature with thinly veiled annoyance. She'd spoken automatically, but Mercedes regretted being so impetuous as soon as the words were out of her mouth, and if the way Sam's arm tightened was any indication, he wasn't too pleased with her outburst either.

The horned creature tilted its wedge-shaped head at them both, its large reptilian eyes unblinking as its wings steadily beat the air above them. It hovered expertly in place as it regarded them and the thought had just occurred to Mercedes that maybe the dragon couldn't talk to answer her when it spoke. Its accent was strange around its oddly shaped tongue, but both she and Sam were able to comprehend its next words nonetheless.

'The boy.'

The dragon used its head to gesture at Sam, but instead of retreating the blond teen immediately straightened and made to move in front of Mercedes. But Mercedes wasn't a wilting flower, and she refused to let Sam be so stupid as to make himself a sitting duck for her when the dragon had no interest in her in the first place. There was a momentary shuffle, but Mercedes resisted and Sam was forced to stand next to her instead of in front of her like he'd planned.

Mercedes opened her mouth to speak again after that, but a warning glare from Sam stopped her.

'This is about my father, isn't it?' Sam asked, falling back into his disinterested routine that seemed to come out whenever he was confronted with a demon. After addressing the dragon, Sam leaned down to whisper in Mercedes' ear.

'Get in your car and get out of here.'

The short girl pulled away from him and gave him the side eye. 'No.'

' _Mercedes.'_

'Don't you 'Mercedes' me.' Mercedes shot back in a harsh whisper, causing Sam to make an exasperated noise in the back of his throat. He didn't even realise that he'd turned slightly away from the dragon to face his best friend, because all his energy was focused on not yelling at her stubborn ass.

'Didn't we _just_ talk about this?' Sam demanded in a harsh whisper. 'I'm trying to look out for you here.'

' _It doesn't want_ _ **me**_ _.'_ Mercedes reminded the tall blond, haughtily glaring at him while Sam looked like he wanted to shake her. 'Who's going to stop it from taking you if I go, huh?'

'You think you could stop it if you _stay_?' Sam's voice went up in skepticism, but the look in Mercedes' eye let him know that she was about to disagree.

The two of them were interrupted by a sudden noise like something being dragged slowly across glass, and then there was no time to think because there was a fireball hurtling towards them.

Mercedes saw it first and she reacted instantly, shoving Sam out of the way with all the strength she possessed and landing on him in an ungainly heap as the fireball flew harmlessly past and extinguish itself on the pavement.

'What the _fuck!_ ' Sam demanded angrily, glaring up at the unspeakably smug looking dragon as Mercedes scrambled off of him.

'Perhaps now you will come with us!' The dragon insisted. Mercedes shook her head violently against the idea, and Sam followed after a split-second's hesitation.

'His father won't come.' Mercedes told the beast seriously, raising a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted up into the sky. In her peripheral vision she could see Sam climbing to his feet and dusting himself off but she didn't take her eyes away from the dragon.

'Silence!' The dragon beat its wings angrily at her and Mercedes had to struggle to stay upright against the sudden gust of wind.

'You are not important.' The dragon spat out, tiny flecks of flame shooting from its mouth and drifting slowly to the ground to be snuffed out on impact.

The words hit a soft spot for Mercedes and triggered her knee-jerk reaction - to argue.

Mercedes swelled with indignation as she prepared to begin her tirade but Sam's cool gentle fingers on her arm reminded her of where she was and took some of the fight out of her.

'What do you hope to achieve by this?' Sam called out before Mercedes could make things worse, and the dragon moved its long neck around to face the blond demi-god.

'I've already told you guys I don't know where he is.'

'We don't want _you._ ' The dragon shot back with such venom that Sam took an instinctive step closer to Mercedes. 'We want your _father.'_ The beast clarified, and Sam felt some of the tension leave his body.

'So go _get_ him.' Sam complained, throwing his arms up in exasperation. This may only have been the second time this had happened, but Sam was already sick of the disruptions the demons' hunt for his father was bringing to his life.

He felt Mercedes' cautious eyes on him from next to him, and Sam knew that she was wondering about what he'd just said. It wasn't like Sam to do anything but defend the people he cared for, but there was no love lost between he and his father. As far as Sam was concerned, if the demons wanted his father, for whatever reason, then they should get on with it and keep it out of his life. Just like his father did with him.

'If we have _you_ ' the dragon answered, its long segmented tail flicking back and forth in the air behind it, 'then he will come to _us._ '

Sam squeezed his eyes shut tight against the headache that was beginning to build in his brain and rubbed at his forehead.

'He _won't_.' Sam corrected wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Mercedes rubbed soothing circles into his back and he relaxed a little into her comfort, even if at the same time he was wishing she'd go the hell home and stay out of this mess. 'He doesn't care about me.'

'We shall see.'

Sam felt sharp claws drag across his shoulders and found himself being dragged off the ground. His sneakers scraped across the pavement and then suddenly he was floating, his feet suspended at least ten feet above the ground.

At first, Sam was too shocked to do anything. The attack had thrown him off completely, but he realised now that while he had been distracted talking to the first dragon, neither he nor Mercedes had marked the presence of a second, hovering just out of sight ready for the most opportune moment to capture him. Sam heard Mercedes' sharp exclamation from below him and it was if someone had flicked a switch inside him. He started fighting to get free immediately, but the second dragon had a grasp on his shoulders like iron and no matter how hard Sam fought it seemed that its grip could not be broken.

There was a burst of orange flame below him and Sam panicked, wondering what Mercedes could be doing to give the dragon cause to try and attack her. He got his answer a few seconds later when something collided hard with the creature holding him and it reeled from the impact, its hold on Sam loosening just enough for him to break free and drop to the ground.

Sam landed in a crouch, but he was already up and running a split second later in his search for Mercedes. Both dragons had turned their attention to her now, their dark eyes gleaming wickedly as they aimed alternate fireballs at the small teen. Surprisingly, Mercedes seemed to be holding her own, and most of the blazing attacks missed her as she darted in between the last few remaining cars and skittered out of the way.

' _Mercedes!_ '

Sam's cry of her name was guttural and automatic as he watched a fireball pass so close to his friend that it managed to singe some of her hair.

'Stop!' Sam requested, his arms up by his head as he sped to Mercedes' side and wrapped an arm around her.

As far as his adrenalin-fuelled brain could figure out, Mercedes had thrown something at the dragon that had captured him, and managed to piss off both dragons even if she'd succeeded in getting him free. Now it looked like the dragons' temporary irritation with Mercedes had distracted them from their mission to capture him. Sam was both grateful and pissed that Mercedes had done something so foolish, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that dragon's weren't big on revenge, so if Mercedes made it out of this situation alive then they wouldn't seek her out again. _If._

Sam hoped that by sticking so close to Mercedes he would stop the dragons from launching any more fiery attacks. They were supposed to want him alive after all, but Sam had failed to take into consideration that 'alive' didn't necessarily mean 'unharmed'.

He felt the impact of the dragon's tail first, a huge blow to his chest that made Sam feel like he'd been hit by a barge pole and left him feeling dizzy. The next thing he noticed was that he was now across the parking lot from Mercedes… and the dragons were gaining on her.

Mercedes' heart beat hard in her chest as the first ball of fire the dragons aimed flew past her head and hit the back of the red car she'd been standing next to only minutes before. Her hands came up over her head and she ducked, but she was already running as the dragons aimed another fireball at her. Mercedes wasn't stupid, she knew that the first one had been a warning shot, but she was getting tired and running out of places to hide, and now… now they were getting ready for the real thing.

Everything seemed to slow down at that point, and the strange creaking glass sound stretched endlessly as the first tongues of flame rose from the depths of the dragon's throat. Mercedes could see the fireball coming towards her, could feel the heat crackling against her skin, but even as her legs worked to propel her out of the way she knew that she wouldn't make it in time. She was going to die - killed by a dragon. Mercedes wondered briefly what her parents would be told about her death. She trusted Sam to come up with something suitable and non-embarrassing, but it was strange to think that he would be the only one who would know the truth about how she died.

The stench of burning hair filled the air around her and Mercedes said a separate prayer of mourning for her weave. She'd really liked how they'd laid it this time around, and now she was going to end up looking like a hot mess at her funeral. Although, now she thought about it, an open casket seemed out of the question when she was likely to be nothing but ash.

Mercedes instinctively shrank back as she prepared for the inevitable impact, her arms up to protect her face and she felt a sharp pain lance through her arm as the flames burned the flesh there. Knowing that this was just the beginning, Mercedes waited for the pain to consume her.

… but it didn't.

She opened the eyes she'd screwed shut a moment later to see Sam's green eyes looking down into her own. Pain was etched across his face in deep lines as he absorbed the full impact of the fireball that had been intended for her. Tears streamed unbidden down Sam's face and his whole body curved around Mercedes', cocooning her against the deadly flames that licked at his back.

Mercedes wanted to look away. The pain on Sam's face brought tears to her eyes, and she could feel his fear in the way his heart beat rapidly against her, but she kept her eyes open and locked with Sam's until the very last glowing ember had dissipated. The smell of burned meat was so thick in the air that Mercedes wanted to gag, but she stayed strong for her best friend, her eyes wide as she grasped the full extent of what he had done. Smoke rose from Sam's back, and although she couldn't see it, Mercedes knew that the burns she would find there would be anything but superficial. She felt herself give a small, treacherous sob as she reached out a gentle finger to trace the path of the tears on Sam's cheeks. Mercedes' hands were shaking so badly that she was forced to give up trying to follow any particular trajectory and settle for cupping Sam's cheek softly with her palm. Sam's eyes closed at her touch, the pain overcoming him and Mercedes quickly withdrew her hand.

The sound of beating wings forced her to confront the reality that the dragons were still hovering above them, and Mercedes' brain worked quickly to assess the situation. Her eyes widening when she realized that not only was Sam now a much easier target, he was also a sitting duck.

'You have to go.' Mercedes whispered to the blond still wrapped around her, and she didn't miss him trying to close his eyes to the truth of her words. 'I know it hurts, Sam.' Mercedes implored hurriedly, one eye watchful for a second attack, 'But you _have_ to go now, while they're still distracted.'

Sam made a sound like he wanted to argue, but he was in so much pain that the words were barely coherent. 'You're too vulnerable like this, Sam.' Mercedes continued, her voice flooded with guilt. 'I will be _fine._ Please _go._ '

She winced for him as she gave him a slight push off of her, but Sam seemed to take the hint, stumbling once before he took off in a super-sped blur in the direction of his house.

'He wasn't lying.' Mercedes said, raising her voice only slightly in a low, flat voice that she somehow knew the dragons would hear. 'His father won't come.' She turned then, looking up into the sky to face the suddenly subdued dragons regarding her calmly as they hovered in place. It was creepy. They looked down at her as though moments earlier they hadn't been trying to kill her, as if they hadn't just seriously injured her best friend. Mercedes ground her teeth as she forced herself not to scream at them, to yell all her frustrations and fears at the simple creatures that watchfully beat the air above her. That would only make things worse, Mercedes told herself as she lifted a hand to clutch at her own burn wound. The _last_ thing she needed right now was for things to get worse.

All three of them turned when a crash from their left indicated that someone had swung open the school doors to the parking lot. Mercedes could just about make out a tall figure stepping out of the door and making their way down the steps, and she had a brief moment of panic for their safety, whoever they were. But by the time Mercedes had turned back to face her attackers, both dragons were gone. She blinked against the sudden daylight for a few seconds before her eyes filled with hot, unshed tears of pain and relief. Mercedes tried to check out the burn on her arm, but she quickly discovered that she was shaking far too violently to focus. And then, abruptly, Mercedes found that she was laughing - laughing hysterically - at the situation, at her fear, at the pain and at the sheer _ridiculousness_ of it all.

Mercedes fell to her knees next to the damaged car and dropped her head to her chest, the tears that had finally fallen staining the pavement as her giggles subsided. She heard footsteps approaching her, but didn't have the energy or the will to stand, part of her wondered if it was Sam come back.

 _Sam._

Mercedes sobered up quickly at the thought of his name, and she straightened slightly, unknowingly wiping trails of sooty residue across her face as she tried to swipe the tears from her cheeks.

Sam had saved her life, and although she hadn't had a chance to see it, she knew that he'd been hurt pretty badly doing it. Mercedes wondered if he'd made it home ok, and had made up her mind that she would go check just as soon as she calmed down enough to drive. She would swing by Sam's house on her way home and check that he was there, _or would it be dangerous for her to do that?_ Mercedes thought worriedly. She didn't know. Mercedes didn't get a chance to think about it either, because the sound of a horrified scream jarred her out of her thoughts and pierced her consciousness. The next thing she knew she was hauled up by her collar and forcibly turned until she was looking into the eyes of a very, very angry Sue Sylvester. The newly appointed principal looked like she was ready to shoot out fireballs of her own as her enraged eyes took in the damage to her car and the the sooty marks on Mercedes cheeks and put two and two together.

'What the _hell_ did you do to my car, Jones?'


	10. Episode 10: Cause & Effect

**Episode 10**

Mercedes stood nervously on the Evans' doorstep after school the next day.

Technically, she wasn't supposed to be anywhere but at home, grounded until she was thirty, but she'd risked getting into deeper trouble to find out how Sam was doing. He'd texted her the day before to let her know he'd made it home ok, but her parents had gone nuclear on her before she'd had the chance to fill him in on what had happened after he'd left. Having caught her "red handed", Sue had called both Mercedes' parents away from work to discuss her acts of "tots-driven terrorism".

Mercedes had been unable to defend herself, she'd wanted to point out that the damage the dragons had caused was _not_ her doing, but what else could she say? The truth would sound like an outrageous lie, and she'd been found at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with a seemingly incriminating burn on her hand and a history of vandalising cars. No one would believe that she was just passing by, especially taking into consideration the riot she'd deliberately, and very publicly, started a few days earlier.

 _Before Sam Evans I was a good girl._ Mercedes thought mournfully. _The only blot on my copy book was that thing with Kurt, and that was practically ancient history now._

Mercedes rubbed her temples to fight the tension headache that had been plaguing her for the last few days as she waited for someone to come to the Evans' door. After a few seconds it was opened and a short, blonde woman peered out at her.

'Oh, Mercedes, hi!'

The woman opened the door wider once she'd recognised Mercedes and smiled warmly down at the short girl on her doorstep. She went to hold the door for Mercedes to pass, and then seemed to think better of it, pulling it closer to her instead so only a thin sliver of light could be seen behind her.

'I'm afraid that Sam's…' the woman looked anxiously back into the house before turning back to Mercedes. 'He's… um, he's not feeling very well, Honey. Why don't I get him to call you?'

Mercedes was about to make up something about Sam asking her over when she heard his voice from behind the door.

'I got this, Mom.'

Mrs. Evans looked like she wanted to argue, but didn't know how to do it with Mercedes still standing on her doorstep.

'Do you really think that's a good idea, Sam?' She asked him pointedly, but he just nodded and moved past her to poke his head around the door.

'Hey, Cede.' the teen gave her a small smile that turned into a grimace as he tried to lean further around the door frame. 'Come on in.'

' _Sam.'_ his mother said again, the warning tone ringing clear in her voice, but Sam ignored it and grabbed for Mercedes hand to tug her, as insistently as he could manage, into the house.

Mary Evans sighed and held the door so her son's friend could enter the house, turning to click the door shut after Mercedes had passed through. Mary was half listening out for the scream she was certain would come when Mercedes finally caught sight of Sam's back, but when she didn't hear it, Mary turned back to find the two teens whispering conspiratorially to each other a little ways away from her down the hallway. Sam was still facing Mercedes, so Mary assumed that the young woman hadn't seen it yet, but it wouldn't be long. Sam was shirtless and as soon as he turned to lead her into his bedroom… She watched as her son caught sight of her and turned to lead Mercedes away to the privacy of his bedroom

Again, Mary waited for Mercedes' scream, but it didn't come. There was a sharp intake of breath, and Mercedes' small, brown hands didn't manage to stifle the small whimper that escaped the girl's lips, but she didn't look completely surprised either. That wasn't to say that the young woman didn't look horrified as she took in the swirling, burnt plastic patterns of shiny red, flesh-toned, and blackened skin that looped in grotesque patterns across the full span of Sam's back and shoulders. - She did, but the sigh Mercedes gave sounded more resigned than shocked.

Mary's eyes narrowed as she started to piece together the pieces of the puzzle in front of her. Sam had come home covered in burns, the fabric of his ruined clothes even welded to his body in some places and Mary had had to spend hours picking the cloth out of her son's wounds, gritting her teeth at the pain she was causing him as she did so, but he'd still refused to tell her how he'd gotten such extensive burns. But now Mercedes had shown up on their doorstep and Mary's - usually very cautious - son suddenly had no qualms about letting his new friend see him in this obviously unusual state…

He had told her.

Mary felt the realisation travel down her spine like a cold sliver of ice. _Why_ had he told Mercedes? Had she found out? Was she blackmailing him?

Mary's mind went into overdrive as she tried to process what this might mean;

 _Why had Sam not mentioned it to them?_ _Why had he kept the fact that this mortal knew what he was a secret?_

The woman studied Mercedes with a newly critical eye as she tried to determine the answers to some of her questions. Mary's blue eyes took Mercedes in, traveling down the young woman's body as the blonde tried to get the teenager's measure. Her eyes caught on the new, bright white bandage wrapped around Mercedes' left forearm.

Mary couldn't possibly know for sure, but if what she suspected was true, then the bandage hid a burn wound, which meant that wherever they had been, whatever had happened - Mercedes and Sam had been there together.

Mary felt the fury building in the pit of her stomach and had to force herself to remain calm in front of their guest. It was one thing for _Sam_ to go running off and putting himself in danger - there really wasn't much Mary could do about that, Sam was a teenage boy and a demi-god - that didn't always add up to sensible - but to put a _mortal_ in danger?

Mary would be having words with her son, alright. Very, **very,** stern words.

/

Mercedes waited until she and Sam were alone in his room before she said anything, and even then she was careful to speak quietly. Sam wasn't allowed to shut his bedroom door when he had girls in there, but Mercedes still had to talk to him about what had happened. Her eyes flickered back to the splash of red on the curve of Sam's shoulder that barely hinted at the full extent of the burns covering his back. They were ugly, and disturbing, and it made Mercedes shiver to think of how bad they must have been last night, before his healing had begun to take effect.

'It's healing, Merce.' Sam told her carefully, watching Mercedes worry her lip as her eyes darted over his bare skin.

'But it's-'

'It'll _heal._ ' Sam reiterated firmly as he guided Mercedes to his bed. He took a moment to examine her, his eyes flickering to the bandage on her arm with a pang of regret, but he was glad to see that she didn't seem to have any other injuries. He got her to sit before he lowered himself onto the bed next to her, his body emitting a tired groan as he lay down on his stomach to talk to her.

Sam's body _was_ healing, but the dragons had done so much damage that it seemed to be taking forever. Sam sighed and propped his head on his hands as he twisted to keep Mercedes in his eyeline. He'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant that Mercedes would be safe. He'd do it for eternity, like Prometheus on the mountain.

Mercedes was still perched stiffly on the edge of his bed with her back to him, so Sam reached up an arm to stroke her back and get her to turn around. She did, offering a weak smile as she lay down on the bed next to him. Mercedes shifted until her back was propped against the headboard and stretched her legs out next to her best friend, crossing them at the ankle.

'What happened?' Sam asked carefully. Mercedes was tense as a steel rod next to him, and he could feel the disquiet radiating off her in waves.

Mercedes sighed and ran a hand through her hair. The whole situation was so frustrating, and she hated that part of her still blamed Sam for it, even when she could plainly see the wounds he'd sustained protecting her.

'I got caught, Sam.' she told him after exhaling a long, loud breath. 'Sylvester caught me, and she thinks I vandalised her car on purpose.'

Sam's face screwed up in confusion.

'Because of the tots thing.' Mercedes clarified and Sam nodded, the dread already building in his throat. In the midst of everything he'd forgotten about the tots thing, and it suddenly floated back to him that Mercedes also had a history of car vandalism. Sam's breathing stopped as he waited for Mercedes to tell him what had happened next.

'She came out a couple minutes after you left.' Mercedes went on. 'I'm fairly certain that the dragons disappeared almost as soon as she started down the stairs so I don't think she saw anything.' Mercedes took a deep breath and sighed again. 'Except me.' She added. 'She saw me, and then because I looked so shaken in the middle of all this damage and I had the burn…' Mercedes raised her arm to show Sam the bandage and shook her head.

'Sylvester hauled my parents into the office, and explained that while she wasn't going to suspend me or involve the police, she did expect me to pay for all the repairs to her car, and I'll have to do community service. In return for my co-operation she's agreed not to put it on my permanent record.' Mercedes' eyes focused on something in the middle distance and Sam tried to think of something, anything, to say that would make this situation better. It was all his fault, and now Mercedes was being forced to carry the brunt of the repercussions just because she was friends with him. It sucked, and Sam could feel the guilt beginning to gnaw away at him.

'What did your parents say?' He asked carefully. He didn't really want to know. Mercedes parents were both highly successful people and they prized excellence above almost everything else. If Sam knew anything, it was that Sylvester had been a cakewalk compared to what Mercedes parents would say.

'My parents are insisting I pay every cent of the repair bill myself, I'm grounded for pretty much the rest of my life, and they keep reminding me how lucky I am that Principal Sylvester isn't getting the police involved. One more infraction and I'd have to go to juvie.' Mercedes added and Sam felt an involuntary shiver run through his body. There was no _way_ he would let that happen. Mercedes was not going to jail for being a good friend to him.

'I won't let it get that far.' Sam promised, knowing even as he did so that it probably sounded pretty hollow. 'I mean it. And I'll help pay for the repairs too.' He continued, his voice coming out in a rush as he fought to reassure his miserable looking friend.

'I'd pay for it all, but I just don't have that kind of cash.' he apologised, 'but I promise that if we work together we should get it paid off in no time.' Sam was babbling, but he had a bad feeling about all of this, and he was terrified of losing his one true friend. It wasn't fair to hold onto Mercedes so tightly, and it looked like he was having a detrimental effect on her life, but he just really didn't want to let her go. He _couldn't._

'What's your community service?' He asked, changing tack so rapidly even he could barely keep up. 'Can I help with that? I can super speed your clean up or something? Or I could… um….'

Mercedes shook her head, but a small smile crept onto her lips as she listened to Sam talk. She felt her frustration with him ebbing as she lifted a hand to stroke at his hair. The action seemed to soothe the young man and he soon stopped babbling, bewitched by the rhythm of Mercedes' hand in his hair.

'Sylvester said I could do the usual stuff, trash pick up, graffiti removal etc. I'm not sure if she's serious or not.' Mercedes admitted. 'She kept hinting that rejoining the Cheerio's would count as community service.' The girl shrugged.

'Either way, I doubt you could help.' She leaned over and awkwardly patted a non-burned patch of skin on his arm. 'Don't worry about it, Sam. Consider it a casualty of the battle. It really could have been a _lot_ worse.'

Sam nodded carefully, his mind turning over what she had just said. It _could_ have been a lot worse, and the main reason it wasn't was because of Mercedes. He'd be demon fodder right now if it hadn't have been for her.

'Thanks for saving my life, Merce.' Sam told her quietly, shifting his head under her hand to pin her with his earnest green eyes.

Mercedes fingers stilled in his hair for a moment at Sam's gratitude, before resuming their comforting passage through his hair.

'Thank you for saving mine.'

Sam allowed a smile to curl across his lips as he locked eyes with his best friend. He knew she had to be feeling guilty about his back, even if she was pissed as hell about the Sue Sylvester stuff. Sam reached up a hand and traced Mercedes' cheek with the crook of his finger.

'Anytime, darlin'.'

Mercedes gave the blond a reluctant smile in return before her eyes slid to the glowing readout of Sam's digital clock. With a start she realised that she didn't have much time to get home before her parents came back and figured out that she'd left the house despite being grounded.

'I better go.' Mercedes pulled her hand free of Sam's hair and quickly scooted off his bed and over to the doorway. At the last minute, Mercedes paused and turned back to her best friend, something she'd been meaning to ask Sam coming back to her.

'What do I tell people at school?' she asked in hushed tones, trying not to be heard by the rest of Sam's family. 'About why you're not in?'

Sam closed his eyes and thought for a moment, whatever it was he had to make sure that people like Quinn wouldn't be tempted to visit him. He could fake an illness on the phone, but there really was no mistaking the mess on his back.

'Tell them I have something highly contagious that you've already had.' Sam decided after a moment. 'Like a 48 hour bug or something.' Sam lifted his head so he could see Mercedes. 'Something with diarrhoea or lots of vomiting.' Sam clarified. 'Anything that will keep Quinn and everyone else away.'

Mercedes nodded, surprised that, out of everything, it was _that_ that squicked her out. 'Ok, I can do that.' she paused for a moment, her hand resting on the doorknob as she tried to clarify all the details. 'So you'll be back… tomorrow?'

Sam thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. 'Make it the day after.' he suggested. 'This is taking a while.'

Mercedes' eyes flashed briefly with regret before she turned her gaze away from him to focus on the floor.

'I'm sorry, for…'

Sam lifted his hand for her to stop. 'No apologies.' he said as forcefully as he could from face down on a mattress. 'We're partners here, Merce. You saved my life, I saved yours, and I will _never_ regret it. Even if this,' he jerked his head over his shoulder at his burns, 'never heals, saving you is not something I will _ever_ regret. Ok?' Sam moved to sit up with a groan, and turned so he could fix Mercedes with his serious green eyes. 'Ok?'

Mercedes swallowed and nodded, her gaze steady on Sam's. 'Ok.'

Sam looked appeased and flopped down on the bed again. 'Text or call me when you get home.'

The dark-haired girl sighed, 'I'll try but I can't make promises. I'm on lockdown, remember? I'm breaking the rules by being here.'

Sam scrunched up his nose in disgust. 'I wish I could fix that.' he thought for a moment. 'I could ju-ju your parents into…'

'NO!'

Mercedes face was stern as she stared down her unusually gifted friend. 'Don't even… You keep your pheremones away from my parents, Sam! You _know_ what the side effects are like.'

Sam sighed, remembering sex-kitten Mercedes, and nodded into his pillow. 'Yeah… I see your point.' he agreed. 'I won't do anything, but you'd better go before they catch you and extend your sentence.'

Mercedes gave a heavy, exaggerated sigh of resignation as she waved and closed Sam's door behind her. Halfway to the front door, she called out a farewell to Mrs. Evans, only to be surprised when the woman herself rounded the stairs and studied her intensely as Mercedes left the house. Mercedes smiled, but Mrs. Evans' lips barely twitched in response. Mercedes left Sam's house with a frown on her face as she tried to figure out what that was about. Sam's momwas usually warm and inviting to Mercedes, but the look she'd thrown the teen just now had been downright disapproving. Mercedes made a mental note to ask Sam about it when he came back to school as she climbed into her car and rushed home, hoping against hope that her parents hadn't beaten her back to the house.


	11. Episode 11: Mom Genes

**Episode 11**

Mary Evans tapped her foot impatiently as her eyes drifted to the clock on her kitchen wall for the hundredth time. As soon as she heard her husband's key scraping in the lock she was up and across the hallway, and she'd dragged him into the ground floor bedroom they shared before he could even get out the _'Honey'_ in his joking, ' _Honey, I'm home!'_

It didn't take Dwight long to get over his surprise, and a smile lit up his face as he took in his surroundings and snake a delighted arm around his wife's waist. He didn't know what had gotten into her exactly, but he wasn't an idiot, and he wasn't going to turn down a little post-work affection either…

'Dwight!' Mary's tone was accusatory even as she let out an involuntary giggle and disengaged herself from her husband's wandering hands, pushing away from the handsome blond to go and stand out of his reach against the opposite wall.

'We are not having sex!' she corrected him firmly, having to bite her lip as she took in his comically crestfallen expression. Her face turned serious however, when she remembered why she'd _really_ dragged her husband in here.

'We need to talk about Sam.'

The blond man's face fell as he took in Mary's no nonsense expression and folded arms and sensed his fantasy flying off out the window without so much as a goodbye.

Dwight sighed and propped himself up against the vanity opposite their bed and folded his own arms across his chest as he waited for his wife to explain what was going on. Now he got a closer look at her, Dwight could see the worry lines on Mary's forehead, and her normally bright blue eyes were hooded as she gazed back at him.

'What's wrong with Sam?'

Mary heaved a huge sigh and flopped down heavily on their bed, her hand running wearily through her long hair as she tried to figure out where to start.

'Sam told a mortal the truth about who he is.' Mary said finally, her voice surprisingly calm despite the fact that she'd been worrying about this revelation ever since she'd caught sight of the way Sam had interacted with Mercedes earlier that night. Her mind replayed the events, dwelling on how casually he'd turned and let Mercedes get a full view of his back without so much as a flicker of hesitation.

Dwight's eyes widened in shock and he slid off the edge of the vanity to sit heavily on the small bench positioned in front of it.

'Who?'

'Mercedes.' Mary's voice was flat as she said the name, not knowing what to think about the young woman who had become a regular visitor to their home over the past few weeks.

'Gods _damnit_.' Dwight swore as he rubbed a coarse hand across his suddenly throbbing temples. Sam had known the rules from the beginning, they _all_ had - even the babies- and yet here he was breaking them with ease and apparently flaunting it under their noses.

'Is she…'

'A threat?' Mary finished before shrugging her slim shoulders. 'I don't know. I've not spoken to Samteus since I realised the truth. I'm not sure he's aware that I know.'

Dwight let out another gusty sigh and dropped his hands to his knees, his eyes focussing on something in the middle distance as he tried to figure out what they would do about this.

'We could always move.' he suggested, not liking the idea but not having any others forthcoming. 'She'll forget eventually, and even if she doesn't, no one will believe her if she tries to say anything.' Dwight reasoned. 'It's not _ideal_ to have to pull the kids out of school at this point in the year, but…'

Mary was slowly shaking her head at the suggestion, and Dwight's speech slowed to a halt as he caught sight of the movement.

'There's more.' Mary said by way of explanation, and Dwight felt a chill of foreboding run down his spine.

'However he got those burns,' she started. 'Whatever it was that caused them…' Mary took a deep breath before continuing. 'I think she was there too.' she finished, her eyes fixed on her husband. 'Whatever it is he's mixed up in, Mercedes is involved in it too.'

Dwight didn't say anything for a good few moments, and then he let out a long, low whistle as a dark look overcame his usually friendly features.

'I think it's high time we had a word with our son, don't you?'

/

'So, can I ask a question?' Mercedes asked during a lull in the study session she was having with Sam and Quinn. Quinn had run to the bathroom and Sam and Mercedes were sitting across from each other, their textbooks open in front of them, while they waited for the cheerleader to return.

Sam gave an easy shrug, giving no sign of the nasty burn that had once spanned his torso. 'Go for it.'

'Did I do something to offend your mom?' Mercedes asked worriedly, careful to keep her voice down in case the older woman heard her. 'I mean, I thought she was ok with me, but ever since last week she's just been… really _cool_ towards me.'

Sam sighed and dropped his pen on top of his notebook with a soft clatter. He knew what Mercedes was talking about, and he _also_ knew that it was his fault. Sam listened carefully to make sure Quinn was still out of earshot before he leaned in close to Mercedes and started talking.

'My parents found out that I told you who I am.'

'Sam!' Mercedes glared accusingly at her friend but lowered her voice when he winced at her. 'You're parents didn't know that I knew?'

Sam at least had the good grace to look sheepish. 'No… but they do now!' he qualified, hoping to soothe the irritated look off Mercedes' face. 'I told them everything. They were wary of you for a while because they didn't know if you were a threat, but then I told them about you saving me from the dragon thing and they like you now.'

Sam flashed her an overly bright grin that bared far too many of his straight white teeth.

'They actually like _you_ a whole lot more than they like _me_ at the moment.' he added quietly, his face falling. 'I'm grounded.'

Mercedes face registered shocked surprise and she checked the doorway for Quinn before leaning in to ask in a hushed voice, _'_ What!? _Why_?'

Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair before leaning close to whisper back. 'Two weeks for not telling them that I'd told you, and a month for putting you in harm's way.'

Mercedes brow furrowed and her head cocked to the side in a sure sign that she wanted to say something, but she didn't have a chance to before Quinn came back and they were forced to get back to studying.

/

Quinn pretended that she didn't notice the way Sam and Mercedes sprang apart as soon as she re-entered the room. She told herself that she hadn't seen how close they'd been to each other. Even though she was fairly sure that Sam wouldn't cheat on her, Quinn was also aware that the she and Sam weren't exactly official yet, either. Sam made the moves, sure, and Quinn would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy the attention the blond boy lavished on her, but lately she'd sensed that a lot of the attention Sam used to pay to _her_ was being diverted to _Mercedes._

In the back of her mind, Quinn was fairly certain that she should feel more than the vague sense of relief that she got at the idea of Sam hooking up with Mercedes, and it wasn't just because their yearbook would probably have a picture of her soul sister and the blond under the heading, 'Least Likely to Cheat'. The truth that Quinn was trying so hard to avoid, was that she hadn't exactly felt 'right' since she'd given Beth up for adoption the year before. It felt like no matter what she tried, Quinn just couldn't get back the feelings that had come so naturally to her just the year before. She'd hoped that Sam could ease that, and he kind of had, for a little while… but _only_ for a little while. It was like putting a bandaid on a cut that needed stitches - It helped a little bit, but not enough.

'So,' the blonde girl asked, smiling brightly at the two as she neared the table. 'What'd I miss?'

'Quadratic equations!' Sam answered equally as brightly, and Mercedes groaned and dropped her head to the table.

'I _hate_ math.' she complained, her forehead still pressed against the smooth wood of Sam's dining room table. 'I hate it so much I would lock it in a room with Rachel Berry for a month.'

Quinn pouted sympathetically and went to rub her friend's back. 'Honey,' she told the back of Mercedes' head carefully. 'Rachel would probably _like_ it.'

Mercedes let out a snort of derisive laughter before lifting her head up and settling back into her chair. She leafed through her textbook with a heavy, heartfelt sigh and picked up her pen expectantly.

'I don't understand how you actually _like_ this stuff.' Mercedes accused as she turned to face Sam. She was a smart girl, but Math seemed to be her kryptonite. While everything else came relatively easily to her, Mercedes was generally lucky if math came at _all_. Sam on the other hand, always breezed through their math assignments like it was kindergarten level. The boy looked startled at Mercedes' half-hearted glare and managed to stammer out half a sentence before Quinn spoke up and leaned over to cover Sam's large hand with her own.

'Sam's special.'

The pretty girl honoured him with a warm, gracious smile and Sam caught himself smiling dopily back at his _almost_ -girlfriend. Quinn could be cold and distant at times, and sometimes Sam felt like a placeholder in her life… but then there were times like this when he remembered why he'd asked Quinn out in the first place.

 _'I'm_ special _.'_ Mercedes grumbled quietly, and Quinn broke eye contact with Sam to turn to look at her friend.

'You're special in a _different_ way.' Quinn teased and Mercedes' face quickly took on a look of mock outrage as the other girl giggled unapologetically. The curvier girl tossed an eraser at the blonde, but she ducked it with well-practiced ease before primly returning to her original position. Quinn stuck her tongue out at her friend, and Mercedes scrunched her nose up to pull a face in response.

Quinn let out another delighted laugh and wrapped her arms around Mercedes to give her a small squeeze. 'You know I love you, really.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Mercedes griped, but lifted her hands to wrap around Quinn's arms.

Something had been off with Quinn lately, but Mercedes hadn't really had time to discuss it with the McKinley High cheerleader. She'd been so caught up in her own life complete with new, supernatural, complications that she'd put off talking to her former roommate. It wasn't exactly as if Quinn had made a lot of time for _her_ either though, Mercedes thought. The blonde had returned to school intent on re-establishing herself as the creme-de-la-creme of McKinley's social hierarchy. To an outside observer it would look as if Quinn were succeeding, but Mercedes knew better. There was an edge to Quinn's actions now, and it was that same edge that had led Mercedes to observe Sam so carefully in the first place. She'd worried that he was the cause of the weird vibe she was getting from Quinn, but it hadn't taken long for Mercedes to determine that, whatever was going on with Quinn, it had nothing to do with Sam.

Mercedes made a mental note to talk to Quinn about it some time when Sam wasn't around.

The study session only lasted an hour or so after that, and by that time they were _all_ in agreement that Math could go die in a fire (although Mercedes suspected that Sam was just saying that). Quinn made her excuses and disappeared off soon after with a weary wave, claiming an early cheer practice in the morning. Mercedes was gathering her stuff to leave when Sam brushed past her just long enough to whisper a soft entreaty for her to stay.

The short woman's face wrinkled in puzzlement, but she compliantly took her time packing away her things until Quinn had driven off in her little VW bug.

'Ok.' Mercedes said as she dropped her pencil case into her satchel and turned to face the tall blond, her hands planted firmly on her hips. 'What's going on?'

Sam shrugged and rubbed at his neck in an effort to look nonchalant. The bright red blush creeping up his cheeks told a different story, though.

'Um…' he began, not knowing quite how to put this without freaking his friend out.

'My parents want to talk to you.'


	12. Episode 12: The Right Thing

**Episode 12**

Mercedes blanched, the blood draining from her face as she took in Sam's words.

'Your _**parents**_ _,_ parents?' she asked carefully, the edge of panic creeping into her voice.

' _What?_ No! _No_!'

Sam caught his mistake in an instant and leapt to correct it, coming over to rest a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.

'My **foster** parents.' he clarified carefully. 'The mortal ones.'

Mercedes let out a deep sigh of relief and sat down heavily one one of the dining room chairs, her legs suddenly feeling like jelly.

' _God_ , Sam!' she chastised. 'You need to work on your delivery!'

Sam smiled apologetically and sat down in the chair next to her.

'Sorry, I didn't realise you'd freak out.'

Mercedes shot him a dubious look. 'Like you wouldn't if you were me? Your parents are supernatural beings, Sam!'

Sam grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

'Honestly? Both sets kind of scare me the same.' he admitted, watching Mercedes' face with interest. Now the initial panic was over, she seemed to be seeing the funny side of the situation and her amusement, as always, was infectious.

'You _would_.' Mercedes shot back, poking gently at his shoulder. ' _You_ can keep up.'

Sam's grin widened as he winked cheekily at her.

'I wouldn't be so sure.' he insisted, 'Mama Evans' looks are deceptive.'

Mercedes eyes widened again and she leaned over to smack her friend.

'You are _not_ helping!'

'I know!' Sam grinned back at her almost gleefully, his body barely registering her smack. He wasn't exactly calm about this discussion himself- his fosters had already reamed him out for over an hour - but somehow, with Mercedes around, Sam felt far more capable of facing down the bad stuff.

Sam's head turned in the direction of the door moments before Mary Evans stepped through, her husband visible in the doorway behind her. She looked businesslike and commanding, and a lot less like the Soccer Mom Mercedes was used to. The smile she gave Mercedes only eased the young woman's troubled nerves until she heard Dwight Evans' deep voice tell Sam to go look after his siblings.

Sam's first reaction was to shoot a worried glance at Mercedes, who looked back at him with large, nervous eyes. Sam turned back to his parents.

'Y'know, I think it might be better if I-'

' _Sam.'_ Mary Evans' tone brooked no argument as she glared down at her son, and reluctantly Sam stood up to go do as she asked. He paused to give Mercedes a comforting squeeze on the shoulder and looked like he might try to argue again before Dwight pointedly cleared his throat and nodded down the hallway. Sam gave Mercedes a final reassuring glance before trailing down the hallway to his brother and sister's room.

'And no listening in!' Dwight called after him and Sam grumbled an incredibly ungracious agreement.

Dwight turned back to Mercedes with a warm smile and made his way over to the table, pulling a chair out for his wife across from Mercedes and sliding himself into the one next to her. Mercedes tried to swallow down the lump in her throat as two sets of eyes turned to look at her with calm appraisal.

The couple exchanged a quick, communicative glance before they both turned back to Mercedes and Dwight began to speak.

'The way I see it,' he started carefully, 'there'd be no real point in us pretending you don't already know what this is about.'

Mercedes nodded and began to chew her bottom lip.

'Our son seems to have quite the big mouth on him when it comes to you, so I'm guessing Sam's already told you that we know he told you the truth about who he is.'

Mercedes nodded again, not quite knowing what to say to this.

'Yes, sir.'

'Here's the thing, Mercedes.' Mary jumped in, placing a stilling hand on her husband's arm. 'Sam's daddy and I are both mortal… but we also both knew exactly what we were getting into when we first took him in all those years ago.'

Mercedes eyebrows knit together as she processed this and tried to figure out where this was going.

'But I thought you just found Sam through the foster system…?'

There was another shared look between the adults before Mary spoke again, this time her voice was quieter, although it was still as kind and gentle as it had been before.

'Sam's birth parents came to see us, honey.'

'You didn't think they'd hand over a kid like him to just anybody did you?' Dwight teased, giving Mercedes a little good-natured chuck on the shoulder .

'Sam's special, and from what I understand, Aphrodite vetted a lot of people from her vantage point up there before she came to us. Now, why she chose us over everybody else is anybody's guess, but I suppose she saw something in us that let her know she could leave her son to our care.'

Mercedes nodded slowly again.

'That makes sense, I guess. So… Sam wasn't actually ever in the official foster system, was he?'

Mary tilted her head to one side, regarding the girl in front of her with an unreadable expression for a moment before she spoke. 'You know, Sam's right. You really do have an uncanny knack for getting right down to the truth of something.'

Mercedes shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her fingers fidgeting on the table in front of her nervously. 'I'm sorry, ma'am.'

'It's not something you should apologise for.' Mary advised. 'It's a good skill to have, especially if you choose to stay in Sam's world.'

Mercedes laughed despite herself, and then covered her mouth in embarrassment, ashamed that she'd let the sound escape in front of her friend's parents.

'I'm so sorry,' she said again, 'I just… I'm pretty sure my choice has been made for me.' Mercedes clarified, before laughing gently. 'I've even got the battle scars to prove it.' she let out a deep breath, more a sigh than an exhalation.

'I don't really have much say in the matter anymore.'

For the first time since they'd all sat down together, the expression on the Evans' faces became stern.

'You _do_ have a choice, honey.' Mary pressed, her voice adamant, 'but you won't have it for much longer.'

/

'So, are you seriously not going to tell me what they said to you?'

Mercedes shot Sam a cursory glance as he leaned expectantly against the locker beside her, and then shook her head. It was two days after her talk with Sam's parents, and he'd been bugging her to find out what they'd talked about ever since. Closing her locker door with an air of finality, Mercedes studied Sam's face for a moment, wondering if she should just tell him what had been said, even if she hadn't fully processed it herself yet.

'Sam, they didn't ask you to be there for a reason.' she said finally, pulling her gaze away to focus on the textbook in her hand.

'Yeah, but _what_ reason?' Sam asked, genuinely curious as he blinked the hair out of his eyes and re-shouldered his backpack. 'Like, why is it top secret?'

Mercedes sighed again and pushed away from the lockers, making her way slowly down the hall although she was in no real hurry to get to study hall.

'Sam, we just…' Mercedes groaned and touched the textbook to her forehead briefly in thought before she continued. 'we just talked about being mortal. And around you.' she added after a beat. 'What it means to be mortal and around you.'

Sam blinked, his step faltering with hurt and confusion as Mercedes' words sank in.

'Wait, so you and my parents had a meeting to discuss how much it sucks having me in your lives?'

Mercedes stopped abruptly, spinning on her heel to come and stand toe to toe with her crestfallen best friend.

'No, that is **_not_** what we did and don't you ever, _ever_ think that any of us resent your presence in our lives, Sam!'

Mercedes' eyes were steely on his, but Sam was still having a hard time accepting her words. If that hadn't been what they'd been meeting about then why were they so against him being there? And _why_ was everyone refusing to talk about it? When he'd asked his parents what had gone on, they'd both just answered with a cryptic, 'That's for Mercedes to tell you, if she chooses.' which hadn't told him anything.

Mercedes sighed and grabbed Sam by the arm, dragging him forcibly into a janitor's closet just off the hallway and closing the door behind them.

'Why do I always end up skipping classes with you?' she questioned conversationally as she pulled a cord and illuminated the room with dingy light, 'and in here…' she added as she watched the shadows dance across the room as the naked lightbulb swung above their heads. Sam's expression didn't change as he blinked back at her, his eyes still glistening with hurt.

'Look, Sam… your parents just wanted to make sure that I was aware of the… risks involved in being someone you confide in.'

Sam bristled, anger shifting the muscles under his skin as he refolded his arms and clenched his jaw.

'So they told you not to be my friend anymore? Is that it?'

Mercedes let out a frustrated sigh and pushed at the chest of the stubborn blond with the heel of one hand.

' _NO!_ That is not what they're saying. Can you please just take a deep breath and listen to what I'm actually saying here? _Please?_ ' she demanded, mirroring Sam's stance and folding her own arms against her chest in irritation.

'They love that I'm your friend. They love that you have someone to talk to at last… but they also wanted to make sure that I knew what I was getting into.' Mercedes sighed and when she spoke again her voice was gentler than it had been before.

'They're concerned that I'm putting our friendship above my own safety, without being fully informed of the consequences.'

Sam softened slightly, his body sagging inwards as some of the fight seemed to leave him in a rush.

'You think they have a point?'

Mercedes shrugged, her short, round shoulders meeting her ears momentarily before she let them fall again, the motion heavy with confusion.

'I don't know, Sam…. What I _do_ know is that I have a burn scar on my arm that I'll have for the rest of my life, and I know that for a moment… in the parking lot with those dragons… I genuinely thought I was going to die, Sam. I closed my eyes and I just _knew_ that I wasn't going to make it out alive. And you know the hardest part? It was knowing that my parents, my brother, my friends… none of them would ever know what really happened to me. It would just be you. One person in the entire world who would know the truth about how I died.'

Sam averted his gaze, his heart heavy with guilt even though he knew Mercedes didn't blame him. She'd told him as much on several occasions, but it still didn't stop the ache of guilt that had taken up residence in his chest at the very thought of it.

'I know you're not happy about this.' Mercedes went on softly. 'I know it probably seems like we're conspiring against you or something… but honestly, Sam, your parents just wanted to be sure that I knew what I was doing before I made a decision this huge.' she lifted a small, brown hand and placed it lightly on Sam's arm, half expecting him to shrug it off, and feeling oddly pleased when he didn't.

'You are always going to be my friend, Sam, and I will always, _always_ be honoured that you chose to let me see the real you, but… I think I need to follow your parents advice and take a little time to decide if the possibility of dying over this is something I can live with.'

There was a heavy pause, and when Mercedes swallowed she felt as though the movement was so loud she could hear it echoing off the walls.

'So… this is it then?' Sam asked quietly after a long moment, his eyes carefully averted from hers. 'Who would choose this life knowing how dangerous it is.'

He said the words flatly, without emotion, but Mercedes could see straight through his facade to the pain underneath. Taking Sam's head between both of her small hands, she gently turned him to face her, waiting patiently until he met her eyes to speak.

'Your parents.' She told him firmly. 'Your parents chose that, Sam. Mortals… are complicated. We do things that are wonderful, and terrible, and difficult to understand… and we do them for a whole host of different reasons,' Mercedes broke off and licked her lips, thinking carefully about how to finish this thought. 'I haven't stopped caring, Sam, and I haven't stopped being your friend… I just need time. Can you give me that? Please?'

Tension hovered in the air as Mercedes waited for a response, feeling as though she'd just tossed a coin in the air and was waiting to see if she'd made the right call on it.

'Ok.'

Sam's voice was a hoarse whisper in the quiet, but Mercedes still heard him, and shortly afterwards felt his strong arms wrap around her in a firm hug.

'I know this isn't easy.' Sam allowed. 'I know I didn't make your life better by letting you into my secret, and to be honest, I had no idea any of this would happen… but it has, and you don't deserve to be dragged into it just because you're being a good friend to me.'

Sam looked away, suddenly bashful as a rush of blood to his face stained the tips of his ears red.

'You're-' he cleared his throat and started again, 'you're my best friend, Mercedes.' he told her sheepishly, 'and I've been selfish, because once I'd found that in you, I wanted to keep it that way… but my parents are right, and you're getting hurt…' Sam gestured to Mercedes arm with a wince.

'You _should_ take the time to decide if being a part of this is what you want.' he acknowledged with a slight nod of his head. 'Take all the time you need.' Sam shot Mercedes a lopsided smile as he took her hand in his, giving it a brief squeeze before letting it go again and turning to crack open the door. 'I guess I'll see you around, Miss Jones.'

Sam shot her a wink, and then just like that, he was gone, leaving Mercedes to think over what had just happened in the shifting shadows from the overhead light.


	13. Episode 13: Catchweight

**Episode 13**

'Did something happen with you and Mercedes?' Quinn demanded one afternoon as Sam sat silent next to her in Glee Club. He'd been miserable for the past week and a half, and Quinn couldn't help but wonder if the fact that Sam had been spending less time with Mercedes lately had something to do with it.

'Why would you ask that?' Sam asked, finally turning to look at her as his eyebrows dropped in a frown.

' _Because_ ,' Quinn pointed out, annoyance in her voice, 'You guys have barely spoken these past few weeks and the two of you look miserable, so I'm asking if something happened.'

Sam frown deepened as he shifted his attention forward again and folded his arms across his chest. There was a momentary pause before he asked in a small voice, 'you think she looks miserable?'

'Ugh!' Quinn threw up her hands in exasperation and flopped backwards in her seat, her eyes instinctively rolling as her almost-boyfriend once again ignored her question. 'Answer the question, Sam!'

Sam huffed and sank lower in his chair.

'Nothing happened.' he told her in a monotonous voice. 'Everything's cool.'

Actually, Sam thought as Mr. Schuester came bounding in to start the class, everything was so epically far from cool. He'd gone so long without Mercedes in his life before that Sam had thought it'd be easy to just go back to being on his own again… but he'd been wrong - it wasn't, it just _wasn't_. Sam missed her. He missed having someone to confide in, and goof off with, and be himself around, he missed having someone to talk to about the things that were _really_ bothering him, like the fact that he still had no idea why demons were after his father and without her things felt empty. It had less than a week since he'd last hung out with Mercedes - just 6 days - but Sam felt more alone than he'd ever felt in his life.

Sam clenched his jaw and refolded his arms again. For all he knew, Mercedes would never come back, which meant that he'd have to get used to being without her anyway. They'd only really been friends for a few weeks, so it would only be a matter of time before things went back to the way they'd been before then, r _ight?_

'Are you even listening to me?' Quinn asked from the seat next to him, her tone hovering in that dangerous state just above irritation and below anger.

'Uh…' Sam bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders, 'Sure,' he hedged, 'sounds like a great idea.'

Quinn narrowed her eyes at him, but seemed to buy it as she launched back into what she was saying, an idea for a duet or something, Sam tried his best to stay engaged but it was hard. His focus kept slipping as all his problems fought for consideration in his brain.

Sensing that she'd lost his attention, Quinn sighed and turned in her seat to look over at Mercedes, who was looking equally lost in her own thoughts as Tina chattered away to her.

Quinn supposed that she should be happy that Sam was no longer spending so much time with another girl, but she just couldn't find the joy in seeing people she cared about so unhappy. Whatever it was that was bugging them, Quinn hoped that the two of them worked it out soon.

/

On the other side of the choir room, Kurt looked over at Mercedes with concern as she stole another look at the back of Sam's head. It seemed to him that whatever competition his old friend had tried to launch against Quinn for Sam's heart clearly hadn't worked. Shifting his eyes to Finn, Kurt sighed to himself. He knew what it felt like to want someone who clearly wasn't going to want you back, but at least Finn hadn't led him on the way Sam had with Mercedes. The boy had been sneaking off with her and sharing secret looks for weeks, knowing full well that he was with Quinn - or, unofficially exclusive… or whatever it was they were calling it - either way, Sam knew he wasn't available, but he'd led Mercedes on anyway, and from the looks of it, it had ended in her getting hurt, just like Kurt had said she would.

/

'Hey!'

Sam halted his progress toward the exit at the sound of Kurt's voice, turning slightly, he could see that the shorter boy didn't look at all happy.

'Hey Kurt,' Sam began, unable to keep the sigh from entering his voice, 'What's wrong?'

'You!' Kurt volunteered, his cheeks reddening as he tightened his grip on the shoulder strap of his bag.

'I don't know what you did to Mercedes, but as her friend, I-'

Sam's eyes widened briefly as Kurt talked, and then he scoffed, interrupting the other boy mid-sentence.

'I'm sorry, what?'

'You think I didn't notice you guys sneaking around, whispering together all the time?' Kurt ploughed on, his tone accusing. 'I knew you would be bad for her.' he insisted, 'What did you do? Decide she wasn't cool enough for you, and cut your ties?'

Encouraged by Sam's look of open mouthed shock, Kurt shook his head as he continued, 'You know what? I knew this would happen. I knew she would displace the misplaced feelings she had for me and put them on someone else. I thought it was the tots, but now I'm starting to see that she put them on you, and you abused it with your-'

'Shut up, Kurt.'

Sam's voice was low and intimidating as he cut Kurt off again.

' _Excuse_ me?'

'I said: Shut. _Up_. Kurt.' Sam repeated, taking a step closer to the brunette. Sam knew that he should probably just let this go, but it had been a tough few weeks, and to have Kurt, a guy who had basically abandoned Mercedes of late, start spewing this _bullshit_ at him… Sam just wasn't prepared to take it this time.

'You have a lot of nerve to stand there accusing me of being a bad friend to Mercedes, you know that?' Sam went on, his temper rising as he looked into Kurt's contrite face.

'Well, she's upset and I just _know_ it's because of-'

'And _how_ do you know?' Sam asked, his voice getting louder in the empty hallway. 'How exactly do you know how she's feeling right now? Is it because she told you? No! Wait, for that to happen you'd have to make actual _time_ for her.' Sam insisted sarcastically, 'And you're too busy sucking up to your new Dalton friend or Rachel, that you can't be bothered to spare a thought for the _best_ friend you've ever had.'

Kurt opened his mouth to speak again but Sam kept going, not letting up for long enough for Kurt to jump in.

'And you have the fucking _balls_ to stand there and try to lecture me on abandoning her.' he let out a humourless laugh, 'You are a fucking hypocrite, man, you really are.' Sam shook his head, 'you know what's upset her the most these days?' he asked. 'You. You upset her, Kurt. You treat her like she doesn't matter, you use her, and no, she hasn't said any of this to me because she never would. She's determined to see the best in people, even the ones that take the friendship and care she gives them and abuse it. Even the ones like you, who treat her like she's only valuable as long as she's useful.'

'That's not fair!' Kurt finally exploded, his blue eyes sparking as he stepped up to the taller blond.

'I tried to be there for her! I even tried to set her up on a date!'

'With _Anthony Rashad_!' Sam countered, 'You were on the football team, Kurt. You really think he's the right guy for her?'

'I thought that they had something in common and-'

'You thought that they were both Black, and you decided that was enough.' Sam levelled, his voice weary. He sighed as he went to reclaim the backpack that had slipped off his shoulder in the heat of the moment.

'Why can't you just treat her with the same care she gives you?' he asked quietly, looking back at Kurt as he slipped a strap over his shoulder.

'You know what, Sam,' Kurt began. 'I've known Mercedes since 8th grade, I don't need you to tell me how to handle my relationship with her, ok?'

Sam let out a wry chuckle and shook his head, 'Yeah, you tell yourself that Kurt, but right now, only one of us is actually here for her, and it sure as hell ain't you.'

Sam bit his tongue to keep from saying anything else, turned on his heels and walked out the door, not bothering to look back as he pushed through the doors and stepped out, leaving Kurt sputtering angrily behind him.

/

Kurt's pride made him walk straight past Mercedes' locker the following day without saying anything, but memories of how good she'd been to him over the years had him turning around and walking straight back again.

'Do you want to talk about it?'

Mercedes looked up from the patch of skin she'd been staring at on her arm and quickly moved to cover it as Kurt approached. She'd been doing a lot of staring at the healing burns lately, seeing as they were the most obvious reminder of the danger being part of Sam's inner circle could put her in. She'd hoped that looking at them would help but most of the time, Mercedes just missed Sam, she missed hanging out with him. He was a really great friend, and now without him, Mercedes felt more alone than ever.

'Talk about what?' Mercedes asked after a moment. It had been weeks since Kurt had acted like she was anything more than a casual acquaintance, so to have him standing at her locker, talking to her like they were still close enough to finish each other's sentences felt… odd.

Kurt managed to stop himself just before he mentioned Sam's name, but it had been at the tip of his tongue, instead he swallowed and said, 'Whatever it is that's bothering you.'

The smile that lit Mercedes' face in answer was enough to tell Kurt that he'd done the right thing. He knew that they'd been drifting apart, but it wasn't something Kurt had known how to fix, he'd tried by offering to set Mercedes' up on a date, but that hadn't worked at all and Kurt had been at a loss. If only he'd known it was this easy!

'Let's go out for dinner tonight.' Kurt suggested impulsively, feeling extra pleased with himself when Mercedes' face brightened even more.

'Sure!'

Kurt beamed and leaned over to wrap his friend in a warm hug.

'Wonderful!' the brunette clapped once he'd let his friend go. 'And it'll give you a chance to finally meet Blaine!' Kurt continued, completely missing the slight dimming of Mercedes' smile as he spoke. 'He's really good at giving advice, and I'm sure you'll like him, Mercedes.'

'Mmmhm.' Mercedes said, nodding as she surreptitiously slid a finger under her sleeve and along the surface of her burn again. 'Dinner with you and Blaine sounds… great.'


	14. Episode 14: Shot Reverse Shot

**Episode 14**

Blaine ran a hand over his lapels and looked hopefully across the table at Mercedes, who was clearly trying her best not to look bored, even though he could see that her eyes had glazed over as soon as he and Kurt had gotten into a deep discussion about Patti LuPone.

'So, Mercedes,' Blaine said, making Mercedes jump slightly before she turned and smiled at him, 'How's Glee club?'

She smiled gratefully at him, and Blaine couldn't help but feel a little warmer because of it.

'Glee is good.' Mercedes answered, thinking for a moment. 'I think we actually might have a shot at Nationals this year. Although the competition is _fierce!_ ' she conceded, shooting Blaine a wink across the table.

'You know we're gonna bring it.' Blaine sassed back, and then smiled. 'You know, it's weird, but Kurt's talked about all of you so often that I kind of feel like I know your whole Glee club.'

'Uh oh!' Mercedes laughed, feeling like she was enjoying herself for the first time that night.

'I want to hear what you have to say about people though.' Blaine admitted, leaning closer across the table. 'In the Warblers we play this game 'Best of the Best' where we have to say the first name that comes into our head when given a category.' he explained.

'So, for example, we'd say 'Best Newcomer' and I'd say 'Kurt" he paused to smile warmly at their table mate, who up until this point had been relatively silent.

'It's a great way of giving praise.' Kurt admitted, taking the opportunity to beam back at Blaine. 'It helps foster a community atmosphere.'

Mercedes couldn't help but smile as she watched the two boys mooning over each other, but after a long moment she interrupted with a cheery, 'let's do it!'

Blaine looked completely delighted at the news, and Kurt looked completely delighted with Blaine.

'Ok…' Blaine began thoughtfully. 'Best… Hair'

'Tina.'

'Best Comeback'

'Quinn.'

'Best Performer'

'Mike Chang.' Mercedes answered automatically and then paused, surprised by her own answer. 'Huh.'

'Best dressed'

'Kurt.' Mercedes said, giggling when Kurt preened across from her.

'Best Motivator.' Blaine shot out, smiling when Mercedes' giggles continued through her answers.

'Finn.'

'Best Friend.'

'Sam.'

Mercedes' smile dropped as soon as she realised what she'd said, and she stammered as she tried to fix the damage she knew had been done. 'and Kurt! Sam and Kurt.'

Kurt, meanwhile, was staring at her from across the table, his water glass gripped loosely in his hand as he shook his head.

'Wow.'

'Kurt!' Mercedes protested, feeling all her earlier happiness dissipate like a fog. 'It's not… You're like a brother to me, you know that. Sam is…'

'Expected.' Kurt interrupted, setting his glass down delicately on the table. 'I can't pretend I didn't see it coming.'

He seemed calm, Mercedes thought, but something in her knew that internally, Kurt was anything but.

'Oh…' Mercedes said, feeling as though she was dancing in a snake pit.

'Sam pays you a lot of attention,' Kurt allowed, turning to Blaine, 'and Lord knows I don't have those abs!' he tried to laugh as though it were a joke, but both Blaine and Mercedes shifted uncomfortably at the edge in his voice. 'I get that you'd neglect our relationship for that, Mercedes. But,' Kurt continued, turning to include Blaine in what he was about to say next, 'We've talked about the fact that Sam is with Quinn before Mercedes, you're embarrassing yourself, and as your friend I-'

Something inside Mercedes seemed to snap at his words, and all at once she found all the quiet disappointment and dissatisfaction she'd felt in her relationship with Kurt bubbling, white hot and volatile, to the fore.

'Oh, you're my friend now, Kurt?' Mercedes asked, a note of bitterness creeping into her voice. 'I only ask because you haven't exactly been around much lately,' she scoffed, 'and when you are around, you tend to start throwing around gossip and hearsay as if it's fact. I'm going to say this one. more. time, Kurt, and then I'm either done with the question or I'm done with you.' Mercedes took a deep, rattling breath, fighting to keep her temper under control despite the fact that her voice sounded eerily calm.

'Sam. Is. Just. A. Friend. Ok?'

'Well that's not what it looks like from where I'm sitting.' Kurt countered, annoyed to hear Mercedes voicing the same sentiments Sam had earlier.

'Well, then maybe you need to re-evaluate what friendship looks like to you, Kurt, before you lose mine.'

Kurt blinked for a moment at the shock of Mercedes words before he was able to recover, his fear and guilt manifesting in vitriol directed at his friend.

' _Wow_ , Mercedes, wow. So just like that you're going to throw away our friendship?' Kurt let out a bark of laughter that had no humour in it. 'Honey, I don't know if you've noticed, but life has been pretty fucking hard for me lately. Forgive me for thinking that you would understand that and be there for me, instead of, I don't know… ditching me because some dumb blond with a pretty face gives you the time of day.' Kurt raised his eyebrows mockingly, 'The Mercedes I know wouldn't be so stupid as to fall for that.'

Mercedes scowled, the tears welling in her eyes but refusing to fall as she locked her eyes on Kurt's.

'Sam's not dumb, and neither am I.' She took a deep, steadying breath and locked eyes with Kurt again. 'You know I will be there for you through every storm, Kurt.' she explained, her voice kind even though she felt like her stomach was filled with lead. 'You're my friend, and I love you, but you and I both know you stopped talking to me weeks ago. I've tried to be there for you, but I can't be if you shut me out.'

Kurt looked like he wanted to interrupt again but Mercedes shook her head, her eyes finding the polished faux-wood table top and focusing in on it as she spoke.

'I know you've been having a shitty time lately, Kurt.' Mercedes explained, 'I do, but when _my_ world started to come unglued, you didn't even notice… Sam did.'

Mercedes stood, gathering her things and quickly getting up from the table, determined to get away before the hot tears of disappointment fell. Flicking her eyes across to where Blaine sat in tight-lipped silence, Mercedes shot the boy a sympathetic smile.

'I'm sorry Blaine,' she explained, 'it was lovely to meet you , and I wish this hadn't happened with you here, but it was going to happen sooner or later - It's been coming for a while.'

'Well, I wouldn't have said-' Kurt interrupted, but stopped as the solemn weight of Blaine's hand touched his arm, but Mercedes didn't notice, her back to them as she made her way to the exit.

She had just reached the door when a hand on her elbow stopped her, and she turned, ready for another round of arguments with Kurt, only to be surprised by Blaine's presence behind her, and no Kurt in sight.

'I'm sorry.' Blaine apologised before Mercedes could say anything, his hazel eyes sincere on her face, and Mercedes felt some of the tension leave her as she softened towards this cool, new boy.

'For what?' she asked tiredly, 'You've done nothing wrong.'

'Except get between you and Kurt.' Blaine corrected, his eyebrows rising in discomfort. 'I didn't realise until all of that,' he gestured vaguely to the tables behind them, 'happened.'

Mercedes couldn't help but smile as she realised that he was being genuine, Blaine, bless his heart, was actually apologising to her - which already gave him points on Kurt.

'It's ok.' she allowed, smiling graciously at him, 'You're good for Kurt - really,' she insisted when Blaine looked dubious. 'He needed someone like you in his life, someone who gets where he's coming from because they've _been_ there. I could never be that for him.'

'But you _try.'_ Blaine prompted, 'he's grateful for that. He talks about you a lot, you know, he's just…'

'Stubborn.' they both said at the same time, and then smiled shyly at each other.

'Anything I can say to get you to come back?' Blaine asked after a moment, but Mercedes just shook her head.

'I think we both need some time to cool off and really process what came out tonight.' she explained, shouldering her bag again as she turned and put a hand on the door. 'It really was nice meeting you, Blaine,' she tossed her hair and looked towards the door again, her eyes on her reflection as she added, 'I can see why he likes you.' after a moment she paused and turned back to face the other teen, sighing she said. 'Tell him I'll see him at school, would you?'

When Blaine nodded, Mercedes turned and pushed open the door again, letting the cool air wash over her and soothe her heated emotions. It hadn't been an apology, but her words to Blaine would let Kurt know that the door was still open between them… _if_ he wanted to use it.

'We'll see.' Mercedes whispered under her breath as she got into her car and drove home.

/

Things were still strained a few days later when Kurt walked into the choir room to find Mercedes alone, poring over sheets of music. He seriously considered turning around and making a swift exit, but then remembered Blaine and strengthened his resolve, making his way to the rank of chairs where she was sitting, and offering a tight smile when she looked up.

'…Hi.'

Mercedes smiled softly up at him, either not noticing or choosing to ignore his reticence in speaking to her.

'Hi.'

Kurt seemed to be having an internal argument with himself, but finally came over and took the seat next to her, his eyes on the plastic of the chair, then on his shoes, and finally on the fox tail he'd flipped into his lap as he sat down.

'So…' he began awkwardly. 'Blaine spoke to me after you left the other night.' he sighed and knotted his hands together in his lap. 'he pointed out some things to me and… well, I'm sorry I haven't been a very good friend to you lately.'

He looked up briefly then, his eyes catching Mercedes' steady brown ones and prompting him to continue.

'And I'm sorry for not believing you about Sam… I think, it's not really an excuse, but, I think that I was - am- a little jealous. With all the shit going on with Karofsky and being the only openly gay kid in this school… it's just really easy to feel like you're alone.'

Kurt saw Mercedes' hand enter his peripheral vision and slide over his in his lap, her warm fingers wrapping around his and forcing his eyes onto her face.

'I'm not replacing you with Sam, Kurt.' Mercedes told him carefully, her voice gentle, but firm. 'But, you started withdrawing from me long before I started getting closer to him.'

Kurt let out a little snort, that sounded worryingly wet and smiled wryly at the truth of her words.

'Sometimes it's easier to make sure you're alone than make sure that you aren't.' he explained, the words as much of a revelation to himself as to her. 'I'm sorry.'

The corner of Mercedes' mouth twitched up in a smile as she gave Kurt's hand a squeeze. 'You can't get rid of me that easily, Kurt.' she promised, the smile in her voice making him feel even weepier. 'I know you too well for that.'

Kurt sniffed loudly, and then swiped at his eyes before any tears could fall and ruin his fox tail.

'And I should have known you better than to believe you would cheat with Sam.' Kurt allowed, his eyes telegraphing his apology. 'I should have trusted you more.'

'Yes, you should have.' Mercedes agreed, not bothering to sugarcoat it. 'Especially after I told you - twice.'

Kurt groaned and nodded. 'I know! Blaine said the same thing.' he shook his head with embarrassment. 'He saw in about thirty seconds what I should have known all along.' Kurt grimaced.

'Well… he _is_ perceptive.' Mercedes allowed, and then sighed, her eyes focussed on the chalkboard with yesterday's theme still written on it.

'I think you were right, Kurt.' she said after a moment, causing Kurt to blink up at her in surprise. 'I think the both of us were trying to make each other out to be all things, and the truth is - we just can't _be_ that for each other.'

Mercedes took her hand back and rested both palms on her denim covered legs, the turquoise stark against her dark brown hands.

'I will always be there for you, Kurt, the best I can.' she licked her lips, groping in her mind for the best way to articulate the jumble of emotions and thoughts in her head. 'but I'm not gay,' she gave a little apologetic shrug and raised her eyes to meet his. 'And the stuff you're dealing with now… I have no experience with… and I'm _trying,_ Kurt… But I don't _know._ I don't have any of the answers… but Blaine _does_.' she smiled and raised her shoulder in a half shrug. 'or at least some of them. He has experience that I will never have, and I can't resent you for taking advantage of that.'

Kurt's face split into a watery grin as he impetuously leaned over and wrapped Mercedes in a tight hug. 'Thank you,' he whispered, his breath warm on her ear. 'Thank you for understanding.'

Mercedes nodded against his shoulder, and as he pulled away, swiping good-naturedly at the tears that had sprung up again, Kurt couldn't help but shake his head.

'God, no wonder Blaine explained your side so succinctly, you and he are very alike.'

When Mercedes' face contorted into a dubious expression, Kurt laughed.

'Well, you are.' he insisted, 'You'll just have to take my word for it.' he paused for a moment and then added. 'And so are you and Sam.' he bit his lip, 'I get it…' Kurt shrugged and fidgeted with the tail again, running the faux-fur through his fingers as he spoke. 'He's a good guy… and I think he's good for you… He fights your corner. Lord knows, someone should.'

Mercedes let out her own sniffle and smiled at Kurt's words. She knew that it probably hadn't been easy for him to say, probably none of it had, and she appreciated the apology even more for it.

'He'd fight yours too,' she agreed with a small smile, 'if he thought you needed it. That's just who he is.'

Kurt returned her smile tentatively and nodded, accepting the words for what they were, a peace offering between them.

'So… friends?' Kurt asked after a moment, and Mercedes nodded, shoving him playfully in the shoulder as she nodded.

'Friends.'

Mercedes exhaled and shrugged, happy to finally have some of the weight she'd been carrying around off her shoulders.

'So…' she ventured after a moment. 'You and Blaine…'

Kurt held up a hand and shook his head before she could complete the thought.

'Don't even. We're just friends.'

'Just friends, huh?' Mercedes repeated, although the laughter in her tone showed that she wasn't quite buying it, especially as Kurt's cheeks began to redden.

'Exactly! Just like you and Sam - like _you and me_!'

Mercedes nodded, her brows knitted together in an attempt to appear sombre.

'Right.' she agreed, 'Although, I notice you don't have a picture of _me_ in your locker…' Mercedes stated innocently, batting her eyelashes at the teen for added effect.

'Well, that's cause I… um…' Kurt spluttered, his face going red as he fought to find a lie that would be even half way believable.

'Mmmmhm.' Mercedes sing-songed, which only made Kurt splutter harder.

'He and I are… he's very nice and… I mean to say that… I don't even think of him like that. Not really.' Kurt protested, although they both knew there was little truth in it. Mercedes had seen how they'd looked at each other over dinner. She was in no doubt that the two of them would be a couple before long… which meant that she would be left as the only one of the glee club to never have had a real boyfriend… Mercedes forced the bitterness that threatened to rise at the thought down before she would be forced to acknowledge it and smirked at Kurt.

'Well, that's a shame.' she said, pretending to ruefully shake her head. 'He's cute.'

Kurt looked like he didn't know whether to protest or agree and instead sat back in his chair, his hands folded contritely in his lap as he stared ahead, finally venturing, '… he _is,_ isn't he.'

/

Mercedes sat with her textbook open on her desk and tried to ignore the reflection in the mirror in front of her. Having a mirror there had seemed like a good idea when she was putting on her make up, but now it was something of a distraction.

'I didn't invite you over here to glower at me.' She finally said, spinning in her chair and turning to meet the eyes of the blond staring intently at her.

'I'm just trying to understand _why_ you agreed to go out with Anthony.' Sam responded with a tight shrug that spoke volumes about his irritation. 'I mean, I know we haven't exactly spoken in a while but I didn't expect things to change _that_ much.'

Mercedes sighed and closed her book, knowing for certain that she wasn't going to be getting any work done for a while. 'I'm going because Kurt asked me.'

Sam raised his eyebrows and Mercedes saw the muscle in his jaw tic as he clenched it against saying anything else.

' _What?!'_

'He's not a good guy for you. I didn't think you even _wanted_ to go out with him.'

'I don't!' Mercedes shot back, exasperated and then quickly corrected her slip. 'I didn't, but Kurt and I are trying to get our friendship back and it just seemed like… a gesture of goodwill. Besides, Anthony isn't _that_ bad, and Kurt said he spoke to him and he was all for it.'

Sam harrumphed and flopped back against Mercedes' headboard, his eyes still sparking in distrust.

'Look, if you want to go, then that's cool, but if you're just doing it to make Kurt happy…'

'I'm doing it because I want to.' Mercedes insisted, although she didn't even sound convincing to her own ears. 'It's because I want to.' she added again, this time with a little more conviction.

Sam studied her for a long moment that had Mercedes shifting uncomfortably in her seat and then shrugged. It was obvious to Mercedes that he wasn't happy, but he was going to respect her decision enough to not press it.

'Fine, but if you need anything-'

'I can handle it.'

'I'm just sayin',' Sam continued. 'Maybe if he knows that you have people watching your back… Puck, Finn and I could-'

' _Absolutely not!'_

 _'_ We'd just _talk_ to him,' Sam explained reasonably, 'Your brother's away at college, and someone's gotta do it. When's your date?'

Mercedes looked at him like he'd grown another head.

'Why do you think I would tell you that?'

Sam scoffed and fixed her with a serious look. 'Because I-'

Mercedes ears pricked up and she was across the room like a shot, her hand over Sam's mouth before he could get out the end of his sentence.

'Rut arr you fooing?' Sam muffled out from beneath her hand, her fingers tingling from the movement of his lips and she shushed him again, her head tilted to the door as she listened. Sam listened too, his enhanced hearing focused as he listened for what she could possibly have heard. Distantly, there came the sound of a cupboard closing softly downstairs and Mercedes jumped into action, gathering Sam's things together and stuffing them hurriedly in his backpack as she ushered him towards the window.

'It's my dad!' she whispered as she herded him towards the door. 'You need to go!'

'Why?' Sam whispered back, matching her tone as he accepted the backpack she was pressing into his arms. 'Dr. Jones and I are cool… And how did you hear that when I didn't?'

Mercedes rolled her eyes and swiftly undid the latch on her window. 'Dr. Jones has a 'No-parent-no-boys' policy and a shotgun. Trust me, if he finds you here he will _not_ be 'cool'.' Mercedes explained. 'He doesn't even trust _Kurt_ half the time.'

Sam shook his head, but lifted the window before turning to look at her. 'I kinda can't believe you're more scared of your dad catching you with a friend in your room than you are of dragons.' he observed, grinning a little as her small fist thumped him in the bicep.

'Ugh! Get out!'

They could both hear the creak of the stairs as Dr. Jones made his way up to check on his only daughter, and Sam obligingly swung a leg over the windowsill before popping his head back inside to grin infuriatingly at an increasingly panicked Mercedes.

'So, when's the date with Rashad?' Sam queried as though he had all the time in the world.

' _Sam!_ '

'You better tell me,' Sam offered reasonably, 'he's almost at your door.'

Mercedes made a strangled noise and clenched her hands tightly into fists as her dad knocked gently on her bedroom door.

'Mer-Bear?' he called, through the wood. 'You ok?'

'When?' Sam whispered as Dr. Jones started to turn the doorknob.

'Oh my God, It's Friday, ok!' Mercedes hissed, wanting to kill him as he smirked at her and dropped out of sight just as her door opened.

'You alright, honey?' Dr. Jones asked curiously, taking in the sight of his daughter standing in the middle of her bedroom floor looking irritated. 'You look like your mom does when her football team loses.'

Mercedes nodded stiffly as she made her way back to her seat and sat down, forcing herself to act normal.

'I'm fine, Daddy.' she lied, giving a noncommittal shrug as she wondered why she'd let Quinn talk her into a study session with Sam that the cheerleader had failed to even show up for, citing an overrunning cheerleading practice and encouraging the two to use the time to 'work out their issues'. Mercedes fought back a sigh and forced a smile onto her face, thinking all the while about how big a pain in the ass her friends could be even _without_ the supernatural aspect.

'It's just Algebra.'


	15. Episode 15: To Err and Simple Gifts

**Episode 15**

Sam woke up on the Wednesday before Mercedes' date with Quinn on his mind.

It wasn't that he was dissatisfied with their relationship, exactly. He was actually really happy hanging out with Quinn - it was just that even though they'd been kinda, sorta dating for the past few weeks, that was all he could truly say it was:  
Kinda, Sorta Dating.

Call him old fashioned if you wanted - heck, he wasn't even denying it - but Sam wanted to be able to proudly call Quinn his girlfriend. He wanted to have her casually mention 'her boyfriend' in conversation and know that she meant him… He wanted to go all-in with Quinn. 100%.  
… he just didn't know if Quinn felt the same.

Lying flat on his back in bed, Sam stared at the glow in the dark constellations stuck to his ceiling and wondered how he was going to go about asking Quinn to go steady with him. Ordinarily he'd ask Mercedes for advice, but she had enough to deal with with the whole Kurt/Anthony thing, and besides, Sam knew she was still trying to figure out where she stood with him and he wanted to respect that - So that meant Mercedes was out.

Letting out a long exhalation in the direction if the stars, Sam kicked the covers away from his body and hoped that the rush of cool air would provide some clarity to his thoughts. When no epiphany overcame him, Sam let out a groan and swung his legs out of bed. Scrubbing his hands over his eyes, Sam decided that there was still a chance the answer would come to him in the shower and stood up.

The motion dislodged an object from the tangle of sheets, and Sam heard a soft thud as something small fell off his bed and hit the carpet. It rolled a few feet before coming to a stop and it only took a few seconds of scanning the carpet before Sam spotted it near his feet. With his hands still steepled over his mouth, mid-scrub, Sam crouched down to get a closer look at it. Reaching for the object, Sam wondered briefly where it had come from before his fingers connected with the smooth leather. It was just a small box, big enough for earrings or a ring, but as Sam's fingers brushed against it he knew instantly that it was something Gods-made, and as his long fingers wrapped around it, Sam felt the knowledge of it seep into his brain like water permeating a sponge.

The box was from Sam's mother.  
His birth mother.

/

Mercedes readjusted her grip on the straps of her backpack as she walked down the hallway towards her locker. Things with Kurt were still awkward, but she liked to think that they were closer to getting something of their old relationship back. Mercedes was about 99.9% sure that agreeing to go on the date with Anthony had helped, even if part of her did secretly agree with Sam that Anthony was sooo not the right guy for her. Whatever. Mercedes pushed the idea away and concentrated on trying to fill her mind with positive energy. Who knew, maybe her date would be amazing and she and Anthony would really hit it off. She just had to think positive.

'I need to talk to you.'

Mercedes felt a hand hook under her elbow and a second later found herself inside a nearby supply closet with the door rapidly shutting behind her.

'What the-' Mercedes started, but bit off the end of her sentence as Sam flicked on the light, his eyes gleaming in the harsh fluorescent light. Sam's fingers drummed against the textbook in his hand as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again.

 _'Hi, Mercedes, how are you today?'_ Mercedes said, tilting her head to one side as she imitated Sam's accent. 'I'm good, Sam, thanks for asking!'

"I don't sound like that.' Sam corrected, shifting on his feet again as his eyes refocused on something next to them and focused back in on Mercedes a moment later. 'But yeah, hi. Sorry.'

Softening, Mercedes eyed her friend's odd movements warily and felt her eyes narrow in concern.

'S'okay…. are _you_ okay, Sam?' Steadying hands gently gripped Sam's forearms, holding him still as Mercedes' concerned eyes fixed on his. 'What is this about? Is everything…' Mercedes looked down at her shoes, her teeth worrying her bottom lip before she looked up again and offered Sam a tentative smile. 'You know I'm trying to stay away from the… ' _you know_ stuff,' she began, 'but…'  
Sam nodded, and then shook his head as Mercedes continued. He started to shift his weight again, but the gentle pressure on his arms calmed him again.

Sam allowed himself to fall into Mercedes' calm, brown gaze and felt his heartbeat slow to something resembling a normal pace again. He kept his eyes on hers for a beat longer until his shifting stopped and Mercedes let go of his arms again.

'No.' Sam shook his head again and shot his best friend a lopsided bashful smile.  
'It's nothing like that, don't worry… I just… Ok, so…' Sam put a hand in his pocket and felt his pulse start to quicken again as his fingers wrapped around the gift from his mother.

'I'm gonna propose to Quinn.'

Sam's voice was steady and determined, but his lips parted slightly as his breathing grew shallow and tiny beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. He licked his lips as he drew his hand out of his pocket again, suddenly nervous to hear what Mercedes might say.

Mercedes found herself blinking for several long moments as her brain fought for the right words to fully articulate how she felt about that, looking up into Sam's eyes she felt certain that her initial response of 'Hell to the no' wouldn't go down too well.

'Sam…' Mercedes began, looking at his hopeful, innocent face and wondering how she was going to dissuade him from doing something so likely to get his heart broken. 'I'm not sure Quinn will… I think maybe she'd find a marriage proposal kind of… rushed.'

Sam frowned, his hand going instinctively back into his pocket to wrap around the ring box he'd found on his bed this morning again. 'No, it's ok!' he realised aloud, a smile breaking out on his face. 'My mom sent me something which pretty much means she's giving her blessing… so I think it'll be ok.' If Sam's face showed any doubt about his reasoning, it was gone in a millisecond before his features rearranged back into the puppy dog expression that had taken up semi-permanent residence on his face.

Mercedes frowned, 'Mary gave you a-'

'Noooo!' Sam interrupted, shaking his head solemnly, 'my _birth_ mom.' he explained, before lowering his voice to a whisper to add. 'The one I'm not supposed to be talking to you about right now.'

Mercedes stared at him without responding, her brain running over every single moment from the time Sam had dragged her in here right up until that second. Finally, she pursed her lips and ran her tongue over her teeth preparing to just bite the bullet and say what she was thinking.

'Sam, are you feeling ok?' A cool hand pressed to his forehead, and Sam found himself closing his eyes reflexively at the soothing feel of her hands on his face as she tested the temperature and clamminess of his skin.  
'Are you hungover?' Mercedes continued quietly as she moved her hand from his forehead to his cheek, trying to run down the mental checklist of possibilities as to why her best friend would be acting so weird. 'Did you drink too much caffeine?'  
Rising onto her tip toes, she gently pressed the backs of both hands on either side of his face and then let her fingers glance down to feel the glands at the base of his jaw.

A tiny frown glanced across across Mercedes' features as she carefully withdrew her hands, her eyes studying Sam's face for some clue as to what was really going on here. He felt fine, maybe a little clammier than usual, but how was Mercedes to know what was normal for a half-vampire demi-god? All she could really tell was that he looked more flushed than usual and that his eyes were shiny and had a weird pink sheen that she didn't like, not like Puck's sometimes were, but… weird nonetheless. Mercedes paused and fixed Sam with a dubious look.

'Did you eat a whole box of Lucky Charms again?' she asked finally, wondering if the answer could really be as simple as that. 'Because you _know_ what that does to your blood sugar.'

'No, no and no.' Sam discounted, rocking back on his heels with a big smile on his face as he gently chucked her chin. 'I'm just excited! Excited to take this new step with Quinn, excited to be happy and in love…'

Mercedes nodded again, but something still didn't feel right to her. She knew Sam well enough to know that he _believed_ that was he was saying was true… but something still felt _screwy._

Sighing, Mercedes shrugged and tried not to let Sam see the tiny crease of a frown that briefly contorted her forehead.

'Ok.' Mercedes allowed finally, although she didn't really believe it. 'Sam, I… I will support you if you really think that this is what you want to do… but' she added quickly, and feeling like a grade A bitch for doing so. 'As someone who's known Quinn for a long time, I just don't think she'll go for this 'proposal' idea.' she explained, wincing at how mean she felt. 'I don't mean to be harsh, I just… I don't want you to get hurt.'

'Mercedes.' Sam explained, his voice level and serious for the first time since he'd dragged her in there. 'The goddess of love gave me her blessing. The **Goddess. Of. Love.** ' he reiterated. 'I'm going to be fine!'

Mercedes sucked her lips into her mouth and tried to see how this could possibly work out without Sam getting his heart stomped.

'I… suppose if _Aphrodite_ gave her blessing…' she stopped and let out the tiniest of sighs. 'Just… maybe take it slow.' she conceded finally, although she still wasn't convinced. 'Maybe float the marriage thing as something to think about in the future… way off into the future. Like a someday thing? Maybe focus on the boyfriend/girlfriend thing for now?'

Sam grinned and nodded, reaching out to pull Mercedes into a crushing hug as he tucked her head under his chin. 'I will. Thanks, Cede!'

Mercedes' voice was muffled against Sam's chest when she spoke, but she pushed through anyway, her breath heating the cotton of Sam's shirt while he held her. 'You're welcome.'

When Sam released her a few seconds later, Mercedes took a deep breath and gingerly tried to brush the new wrinkles out of her clothes.

'Why did you even need to drag me into a closet to tell me this?'

Sam shrugged and switched his textbook to the other hand. 'Cause you're my best friend. I wanted you to be the first person I told.' he explained simply.

'And in the closet because…' Mercedes prompted.

Sam grinned bashfully. 'I dunno… I guess it's kind of our thing now.'

Mercedes scoffed and shook her head, a smile dancing on her lips as she shoved the taller teen in the shoulder. 'You are such a doofus.'

' _You're_ a doofus.' Sam argued, which just made the whole situation seem more ridiculous. Mercedes snorted again, and Sam's answering grin had them smiling together like fools for the next minute or so.

'So… you all set for your date on Friday?' Sam asked eventually, reluctant to let Mercedes leave now that he finally had some alone time with her again. The tiniest flicker of doubt flittered across her face, but Mercedes squashed it so quickly that Sam could almost have wondered if he'd seen it at all. Almost.

'Yup!' she was trying to keep her tone even, but the forced brightness in the word gave her away. 'Nope.' she corrected a beat later, her smile dropping as she bit her lip. 'But Kurt's coming over right before to do hair and make up duties.' she filled in quickly with a lift of her shoulders. 'We're going to "bond". It'll be fun.'

Sam nodded slowly and she knew that he'd seen right through her.

'You know… he'd understand if you told him you didn't want to go.' he ventured, but Mercedes shook her head, her hoop earrings glinting as they caught the light overhead.  
'No he wouldn't.' she contradicted softly, 'Not right now, anyway. Things with us are still too… We're too fragile right now.' her lips twitched into a tiny smile. 'as friends… but thanks for looking out for me. I appreciate it.'

The corner of Sam's mouth twitched up in a smirk. 'Anytime, darlin''

'And you know I'm here for you, right?' Mercedes asked, her eyes filled with sincerity. 'I know our relationship is a little… weird right now… but I'm still your friend, and I'll support you with this Quinn thing… whatever happens, ok?'

'Ok.' Sam agreed, before pulling the short woman in again for another brief hug, this one thankfully less tight than the last.  
'Hallway's empty.' he commented when they pulled apart a second later. 'We better get to class.'

/

Sam clutched the ring box in his pocket one more time for luck before Quinn rounded the corner and headed towards him, Smiling wide, Sam held the door to the science classroom open and waited as Quinn moved past him, her ponytail swinging merrily from side to side as she slipped past him into the room beyond.

'So, what is this about?' She asked before she'd even turned around, her eyes lingering on a motivational poster on the wall before flicking back to him. Quinn's gaze could be a little disconcerting sometimes, Sam decided as he cleared his suddenly dry throat and watched as Quinn hopped up onto one of the counters and raised an eyebrow at him.

'Um… ok,' Sam began, licking his lips as he moved to stand in front of her.

'Quinn, I… we've been hanging out for a while now, and I really like it…'  
Sam faltered when a small smile curled up the corners of Quinn's mouth, and he cleared his throat, bolstered by the tiny show of encouragement she'd given him.

'I really like _you_ Quinn, and I want to make us official.' Glancing up at the mobile of the planets above his head, Sam quirked a half-smile and pointed to one. 'Venus:' _what the heck, calling on his mom for a little luck couldn't hurt, could it?_  
'The planet of love.'  
'That's Mars.' Quinn corrected, her perfect eyebrows creasing in a frown as she looked at him.

Shit. He'd picked the wrong planet.

'Sam what are you-'

Without saying anything else, Sam quickly fished the ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee.

'Are you proposing?!' Quinn demanded, a note of panic in her voice as she hopped down from the table to stand in front of him. 'Sam we've only known each other for six weeks!'

Sam shook his head, the weight of the box in his hand suddenly giving him a second wind confidence-wise. 'Quinn,' he began, looking up at her through his bangs with sincerity in his eyes. 'These plastic mobiles aren't the stars of McKinley… we are.'

Quinn rolled her eyes so hard it actually hurt a little bit.  
'Stand up, Sam, you're starting to freak me out.'

Ok… so that hadn't exactly been the encouragement he'd been hoping for, but Sam plowed on regardless, refusing to let his insecurity show. He did waver for just a second though, and in that second he decided that maybe Mercedes had been right about not going too hard with the proposal thing.

'I like you, Quinn, a lot,' Sam recovered, smiling his best smile at her, 'But this isn't an engagement ring… it's a promise. Yes, I want to marry you someday, but this isn't the same thing. This is a promise that I'll drive you places and not complain when you want to go shopping, that I'll look out for you and tell you when you have gunk in your eye, and that I'll make you proud to walk down the hallways with me. This is a promise that I will try my best to be the guy you'd want to call your boyfriend, Quinn Fabray. I won't even speak in Na'avi anymore…' Sam grinned, his heart beating fast in his chest as he held the ring out to her. 'So… will you wear my ring?'

/

'She said 'no'.' Sam said by way of a greeting as he dropped his books next to Mercedes' on the picnic table where she was studying. 'You were right. I'm an idiot.'

Mercedes sighed and dropped her pen back down onto her open book. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't seen this coming, but seeing how sad Sam looked **really** made her wish she'd been wrong.

'You're not an idiot.' She corrected fiercely. 'You were just brave enough to hope and go for something you wanted. You don't have to feel ashamed about that.'

Sam sat down heavily on the bench seat next to her and let his head flop onto his arms.  
'I was _so sure_ she'd say yes.' he complained, shaking his head against his arms. 'I thought the ring meant it was a dead cert!'

Mercedes was silent for long enough that Sam eventually looked up and caught the stern look she was shooting his way.

'Ring?' Mercedes asked tightly, and Sam suddenly got the feeling that he was on dangerous ground.

'Um…'

'You didn't try to ju-ju Quinn did you, Sam? Because I **told** you that if you did I would-'

'No!' Sam frowned and sat up. 'I wouldn't… My mom sent me a ring and I thought it was a sign, that's all…'  
Sam let out another groan. 'You know I would never want Quinn to do anything she wasn't comfortable with!' Sam began, and Mercedes sighed and nodded her agreement. She'd just gone into protective Momma Bear mode there for a second. Seeing her acquiescence on her face, Sam let out a forlorn breath and continued. 'I just didn't think that _I_ would be one of those things she wouldn't be comfortable doing.'

Sam stopped as what he'd just said permeated his brain and then fell over himself as he tried to correct it. 'NOT that I expected Quinn to be doing… I mean, we're not… not that it would, I'm not saying that I don't _want_ to, because I… not that I'm saying I **do** want, although of course she's beautiful… Which… no, wait! THAT ISN'T THE ONLY REASON I'D WANT TO… oh my God, I'm going to stop talking now.'

Mercedes sucked her lips into her mouth to keep from busting out laughing, but a few giggles managed to wheeze past her lips as she listened to Sam dig himself into a hole.

'I get it.' she told him, finally putting him out of his misery. 'Seriously, stop trying to explain. It's ok.'

'Ok.' Sam took a relieved deep breath and then propped his chin on his hand. 'I just don't get it.' he admitted solemnly after a few minutes of silence. 'I mean, we're practically together right now.' he explained softly as Mercedes pick up her pen again. 'I don't understand why calling me her boyfriend is such a big deal.'

Mercedes bit her lip and dropped her pen down again, and then used the same hand to rub comforting circles onto Sam's tense shoulders.

'Quinn's last year wasn't so great.' Mercedes began, only to have Sam cut in.  
'I know, she had a baby, but I'm ok with that.'  
'That's not all there is to it though, Sam.' Mercedes flipped her fringe out of her eyes and squinted across to the fields and trees in the distance as she remembered back to the past year.

'She lost everything at once, Sam. Her family kicked her out, her reputation was in tatters, she lost her place on the cheerleading squad AND her power couple status when she and Finn broke up… and then she gave up Beth.'

Sam blew out a sharp breath. 'Jesus, that's rough.' Quinn had only skimmed past that stuff when he'd tried to bring it up. Of all the things Mercedes had said, the only ones Quinn had actually told him herself were that she'd had a baby and given it up for adoption. She hadn't even told him the baby's name.

'She doesn't really talk about it much.'

'Would you?' Mercedes swept her hair over one shoulder and played with the ends absently as she thought, her mind obviously elsewhere as her eyes focused unseeing on Sam's textbooks.

'Listen, Sam, Quinn is… she's complicated. She's an amazing, loving person, but right now she's still kinda hurt, and she's got some things she needs to work through before she can truly give herself to another person. It's not personal, she's even struggling with me right now, but you need to respect that, and respect that Quinn will come around on her own time. You can't rush her.'

Sam's head bobbed slowly up and down as he chewed over what Mercedes had said. Of everyone, it was Mercedes whose judgement he trusted most when it came to Quinn, and as much as it pained him to say it, he knew that he'd have to be patient with his almost-girlfriend, and let her lead the way.

Reaching over to give Mercedes' hand a quick squeeze, Sam dropped it and ran his hand through his shaggy blonde hair before letting out a short bark of laughter.

'You know,' he began, looking at Mercedes with some of the spark back in his eyes. 'You've been so much more helpful with this whole Quinn situation than my mom has. I wish I'd just spoken to you and never thought about the stupid ring in the first place.' he shrugged and pulled his textbook towards him, flipping to the correct page as he continued to speak. 'In hindsight it was kinda reckless. I feel like I haven't been thinking straight since I got the darned thing.'

Mercedes smiled, grateful to have normal Sam back as she picked up her pen again and tapped it against the open pages of her book in a thoughtful rhythm. 'There's a truth in that.' she admitted, turning to shoot her best friend a sidelong smirk. 'Who knows if that's what it was even for anyway. I mean, despite the fact that it's from your mom, do you even know anything else about it?'

Sam frowned, the weird fog in his brain starting to lift for the first time since he'd found the ring that morning. 'No…' he admitted slowly, and then frowned as the truth of that finally sank in. 'No, I don't.'  
Chewing the end of his own pen, Sam set it down carefully before turning to look Mercedes with a look of horror in his eyes.  
'Cede, I nearly gave my girlfriend a gods-made item that I didn't understand.' he shuddered at the thought and picked up his pen again. 'Thank God she didn't take it.'  
Shaking his head again, Sam bit his lip and frowned. 'I don't know what came over me.'

'Neither do I,' Mercedes agreed, her voice hardening as she added, 'You weren't acting like your usual self, and I'm betting that ring has something to do with it.'

Sam nodded, his lips forming a straight line as he clenched his jaw and thought of the ring sitting in his locker.

'Maybe you should keep it locked away for the time being,' Mercedes suggested, 'Until you understand it and the effect it has on you better. Seriously, it was like you were hopped up on love drugs or something.'

Wincing, Sam couldn't help but agree with Mercedes' assessment. It really would be better if he kept that ring far away from everyone he cared about - including himself.

'Yeah, I think you're right.'


	16. Episode 16: Bridge Maintenance

**Episode 16**

As a rule, Sam tried not to get into fights.

Given the events of the past few weeks, most people (ok, those few people who actually knew the truth about him) would be forgiven for thinking that he was breaking his own rule a lot lately. To clarify, Sam reasoned as he sat staring out the window in detention, he tried not to get into fights with _mortals._

If he'd just stuck to his own stupid rule, he thought bitterly as the first fat droplet of rain hit the window pane, then he wouldn't even _be_ in detention right now.

Sam had been walking to his locker and trying to decide if he ought to have a little chat with Anthony before his big date with Mercedes tomorrow. His gut was telling him 'yes', but then images of a tiny, furious Mercedes kept popping into his head and making him change his mind. Sam was just starting to draw up a mental list of pros and cons when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone being thrown into a locker - hard, and then shortly after, Kurt's unmistakable soft voice spitting venomously 'What the hell did I ever do to you?'

Breaking into a run, Sam kept an ear on the conversation as he skidded around a corner and headed towards the sound of the confrontation, spotting them at the end of a long hallway, Sam was able to see Karofsky, Artie and Mike facing each other in a standoff, tension in their every movement. Kurt sat crumpled against a locker on the floor, hot tears making his eyes shine despite the defiant set to his jaw.

'We're telling you to leave Kurt alone.' Mike was saying, his voice low and steely. 'Just walk away Karofsky, before this gets worse than it needs to.'

Karofsky, for his part, just scoffed, his thick brow wrinkling in derision as he looked from Artie to Mike and then back down to Kurt.

'Is this your big plan?' he asked Kurt, laughter colouring his voice. 'You get a cripple and twinkle toes here to protect you?' Karofsky snorted again. 'You're even more pathetic than I thought!'

'Hey!' Artie's voice was harsher than Sam had ever heard it before as he instantly commanded Karofsky's attention again. 'We meant what we said. Leave Kurt alone or we'll make you regret it.'

Karofsky looked stricken for a moment, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as he mimicked shock, but then maintaining the pretense appeared too much for him and he doubled over in laughter, his body shaking in amusement as he straightened, wiped the tears from his eyes, put one foot against Artie's wheelchair and shoved. Artie hit the opposite bank of lockers at an angle and bounced off with force. Feeling his chair start to topple, it was all Artie could do to whip his hands off the wheels before they got trapped beneath him.

'You son of a -' Kurt seethed, attempting to get to his feet to confront Karofsky himself, but with Mike distracted with helping Artie, Karofsky easily pinned him to the lockers again. Leaning close enough for his hot breath to fan across Kurt's face, Karofsky lowered his voice and practically whispered, 'You _really_ want to push me, fa-'

And that's when Sam's rule had gone out the window and he'd found himself tackling the larger football player to the ground. He still had enough sense to hold back, after all, he didn't want to _kill_ the guy, but he could tell that even holding back his blows were still having an effect.

'What the fuck!?' Karofsky screamed, one hand covering his face while he tried to get in a few hits of his own with the other. 'Get him offa me!'

Kurt, Mike and Artie had no intention of doing anything of the sort, but the decision was taken out of their hands when Principal Sylvester came careening around a corner and forcibly dragged Sam off Karofsky by his shirt collar, the teenager still scrapping like an angry dog. That was when Karofsky's pudgy fist had finally made contact with Sam's eye, and he allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before Sylvester barked at him to get up and follow them to her office.

So, that was how Sam had wound up in detention with a black eye, but it had been worth it, Sam decided. It was about time Karofsky got a taste of his own medicine, and with any luck he'd think twice about going after Kurt now.

Sam pulled his eyes away from the window and focused on the scuffed toe of his sneaker instead. He wondered what Mercedes would say when she found out what had happened. Actually, he wondered what _Quinn_ would say. Would this be another nail in his coffin or would she maybe like that he'd stood up for Kurt? Sam sighed and flipped his hair out of his eyes. There really was no guessing with that girl, he decided finally, raising his eyes to the clock to watch the final seconds of his internment tick by. As the hour struck, Sam stood and shouldered his backpack - Mr. Schue had long since abandoned the detention hall - and sighed, whatever his friends reactions were, Sam figured he would find out sooner or later.

/

'Is it wise for you to be getting into fights with mortals?' Mercedes asked him the next day as they walked to glee club together.  
'He started it.' Sam pouted, and then winced because his eye was still smarting. He'd wanted to just let it heal, but his mother, of all people, had pointed out that it would look pretty weird if the bruise just disappeared overnight.

'Very mature.' Mercedes teased, but he could hear the pride in her voice as she said it.  
'I like to think so.'Sam said, deliberately misinterpreting her, and then stuck his tongue out.  
Mercedes laughed despite herself and then dropped her voice so that only Sam could hear her next words.

'He deserved it. I know it's not very Christian of me to say it but-'  
'-but he deserved it.' Sam agreed, his tone serious again as he nodded his head. 'I don't regret it.'

'Regret what?' Quinn asked as she sidled up to them both, her green eyes gently taking in Sam's black eye. 'Wow, so I guess it's true.'

Mercedes smiled a greeting at her friend and nodded as they entered the empty choir room.

'Yes, I got into a fight with Karofsky.' Sam explained drily, the efficiency of the McKinley rumour mill meaning that he'd had that same conversation at least thirty other times that day.  
'Trust me, he looks way worse than I do.'

'Well, that's not hard.' Quinn quipped, folding herself gracefully into the seat next to Sam. 'I think it was really sweet what you did for Kurt, though.' She told him, shifting so close to him she was practically in his lap. 'You're my hero.'

Quinn let her fingers trail playfully through the hair at Sam's temples to ghost over his bruise, and Mercedes started to wonder if she'd made a mistake in going in there alone with the two of them. Thankfully, Tina arrived a few seconds later with her hand apparently surgically attached to Mike's, and Artie and Puck followed soon after. As the rest of the club members filed in, Sam was forced to recount the fight several more times (with many interjections from Kurt and Artie) before everyone was completely satisfied they had the full story.

'And I swear that was just a lucky punch.' Mike was saying as everyone settled into their seats. 'Sylvester had already pulled Sam off by then.'

'It's not like we can count on Karofsky to be _sportsmanlike '_ Kurt voiced bitterly, and there was a brief silence as everyone was forced to agree.

'Well, I find the black eye kinda hot.' Quinn told everyone, running her fingers gently over the bruise again before planting a soft kiss where her fingers had been. 'I'm glad my _boyfriend_ is so brave.'

Grinning at Sam's startled expression, Quinn held up her hand so he could see the promise ring encircling her finger.

Sam managed a shaky smile in return before turning to exchange a panicked glance with Mercedes.

'I… thought that was in my _locker?_ ' Sam queried with forced brightness, but Quinn just shrugged prettily and smiled benignly back at him.

'Ok, so I _know_ I should have waited for you to ask me again, but I wanted to surprise you so I broke into your locker and got it. You're not mad, right?'

 _Mad_? Sam thought as his heart picked up speed. Nope, _freaking terrified_? That's more like it.

'Course not, babe.' Sam mustered up his warmest, happiest smile. 'I'm so honoured you decided to wear it.'

Quinn grinned and leaned in and pressed her lips against his, her slender hands gripping his biceps as she pulled him to her. Mr. Schue's appearance a couple of minutes later distracted everyone from the official 'Fabrevans' announcement, but Sam couldn't pay attention to the rest of the class anyway. He was too busy wondering what the heck he was going to do about that ring.

/

'Mercedes Jones, keep still!' Kurt commanded as Mercedes once again tried to inch her face closer to the mirror so she could see.

'I just want to see what it looks like.' Mercedes told him, doing her best to sound persuasive and reasonable, but Kurt just rolled his eyes at her and clicked his tongue.

'You'll see when it's ready now hold still before I burn you with these straighteners.'

'You meant _accidentally_ burn me, right?' Mercedes asked, her eyes widening as Kurt clicked the irons at her menacingly.

'Accidentally…' Kurt agreed, before adding 'Or on purpose… point is, keep squirming and you'll find out.'

Mercedes let out a tiny scandalised gasp before folding her hands in her lap and holding her body as still and primly as possible.

'Annnnd, _there_!' Kurt sang some time later as he popped the cap back onto the liquid eyeliner with a flourish. 'Breathtaking.' He declared as he stood back to survey his work. 'Anthony's not going to know what hit him.

Not for the first time, Mercedes felt the stirrings of butterflies in her stomach as she turned to the mirror to check out Kurt's handiwork. She looked stunning, there was absolutely no denying it, from her hair to her dress to her make up, Kurt had truly outdone himself and she told him so.

'It's the quality of the canvas, ma cherie.' he told her, before clapping his hands together and squealing. 'Ooh, You, Anthony, Blaine and I can all go see Newsies together when it comes here on tour!' Kurt's eyes shone as his mind disappeared off into theatreland. 'I know it's probably not EXACTLY Anthony's thing, but it's a mostly male show and they're very athletic. You can just tell him that it's like sports, but on stage!'

'Kurt!' Mercedes began to giggle at his obvious enthusiasm, it was quite sweet - in it's way - but misguided nonetheless.  
'We haven't even been on a date yet.' she reminded her friend. 'You're getting ahead of yourself.'

Kurt sighed and sank happily onto the bed next to her, his hands finding hers as he studied her face. 'I know, Mercedes. It's just… I want you to have what _I_ have, and it'll be so much easier for us to hang out again when you're in a couple instead of-' too late, Kurt clapped his hand over his mouth and looked guilty.

'Instead of being the third wheel?' Mercedes asked, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she shrugged. 'It's ok, Kurt. It's not like you're wrong.'

Kurt smiled bashfully back, but didn't say anything else on the subject. Instead, he let a few moments pass before rising to his feet and asking. 'So, what time is he picking you up?'

'He isn't.' Mercedes leaned in to make sure she hadn't smudged her lipstick and spared a glance at the clock. 'Oh, shoot! I gotta go if I want to make the restaurant on time!'

'You're meeting him there?' Some of the pep seemed to have gone out of Kurt's voice as he watched Mercedes throw the essentials into her purse.

'He's coming from… someplace… ! Don't remember!' Mercedes explained as she checked and rechecked her purse to make sure she had everything she needed. 'It's no big deal.' she grinned in what she hoped was a reassuring way, and then as an afterthought turned to make sure she didn't have anything stuck in her teeth.

'How do I look?' She asked Kurt as she swivelled round again, turning slowly for a last minute appraisal.

'Flawless.' Kurt smiled as Mercedes enclosed him in a perfumed hug before disappearing down the stairs. He sat down heavily on her bedspread as he heard the door close behind her, and tried to shake off the feeling that setting Mercedes up with Anthony had been a mistake.


	17. Episode 17:Champagne For My Real Friends

**Episode 17**

Mercedes drummed her fingers on the tablecloth and checked her watch again.

Twenty minutes.

He was twenty minutes late.

But that didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't coming, right? Mercedes reasoned. Anthony could be stuck in traffic, or sick, or…or… or rescuing a puppy or something.  
Mercedes sighed and resisted the urge to check her watch again.

Just because he wasn't here yet didn't mean he wouldn't be. He'd said he'd be there right? There was no reason to think he'd been lying.

Except for the fact that he still wasn't here.

Mercedes smiled and shook her head at the hopeful waitress tentatively approaching her table.

'I'm ok.' she insisted again ten minutes later, her forced smile brightening when the returning waitress asked if Mercedes would like to go ahead and order for the third time. Mercedes' eyes drifted to her phone as the waitress shot her a pitying look and wandered away.  
Still no message from Anthony - but there were already TWO from Kurt asking how it was going.

 _Horrible._ Mercedes thought as she slipped her cell back into her purse and stood to leave. Her first date ever and the guy didn't even turn up - what did that say about her? She bit back the lump forming in her throat and focussed instead on putting her coat on, one sleeve at a time, and then doing up each of the buttons. When tears blurred her vision, Mercedes blinked them angrily away, refusing to let even one teardrop fall in public. So what if Anthony had humiliated her by not showing up? That didn't mean she had to humiliate herself further by making a scene.

With a generous smile at the wait staff still offering her sympathetic and pitying looks from the kitchen, Mercedes picked up her purse and sauntered out of the restaurant like she had been planning to do just that all along. It was only once she'd driven herself home, gone up to her bedroom, kicked off her heels and stared at her made up reflection in the mirror that she felt the tears spilling over her cheeks.

She thought of all the time she and Kurt had spent getting her ready for this date, and the fact that Kurt had been able to speak of nothing else since she'd agreed to the stupid date in the first place: planning her hair, her make up, her outfit… She'd been the closest to Kurt that she'd been in months because of this date, and now… now she'd have to pick up the phone and dash Kurt's hopes the same way hers had been dashed.

Mercedes bit her lip and left her phone where it was on the cradle. She didn't want to call just yet, not while the whole rejection of the thing was smarting under her skin and in her heart. It wasn't as though she'd much rated Anthony in the first place, but she'd at least shown up. She'd given him a chance - _why couldn't he have done the same for her?_

Letting out a gusty sigh, Mercedes levered herself off the bed and went to take off her clothes and make up, returning a few moments later with a bare face and wearing her biggest, comfiest pyjamas. It was only 7.30 now, since the date had run so short, and it felt way too early to go to bed - not that she'd get much sleep with all her thoughts and emotions jumbling around in her head anyway. No, what she _really_ wanted, Mercedes decided, was to have a good old-fashioned bitch about Anthony, let the tears out and then move on. The trouble was, there wasn't anyone to tell.

Kurt was too invested in the whole thing. Quinn had turned into Power Couple!Quinn 2.0 since she'd put on that stupid ring, and Tina would cry so much Mercedes would be the one forced to do the comforting. There was no one else she was close enough to to tell.

 _You could call Sam_ , a little voice in the back of Mercedes' head offered, _he would care._

Except that she and Sam weren't exactly being 'best friends' right now, Mercedes countered, trying not to think too hard about the fact she was arguing with herself. They were giving each other "space". Calling him up to hang out with her after she'd been stood up was probably the _opposite_ of space.

Ok, so, maybe it was too specific to be an _exact_ opposite, but it was probably at least a bulletpoint example.

 _So, I'm not calling him._ Mercedes told herself decisively and then stared in wonderment at the ringing phone in her hand.

'Hello?'

'Cede?' Sam's voice sounded tense and irritated, like he'd called her up to bitch about someone who'd pissed him off. 'I knew it! That son of a bitch!'

'Sam?' Mercedes asked lamely, her mind whirring to keep up with what was going on. 'What- Why're you?… What's wrong?'

'You're home is what's wrong.' Sam complained, his speech getting breathier with his anger. 'I just saw Anthony Rashad drinkin' beer out by the lake with a bunch o' the guys from the team. I just _knew_ he'd be an asshole I just-'

There was a knock on Mercedes' bedroom door and she cradled the phone between her chin and her shoulder as she went to open it.

'Well, at least that explains why I was waiting for thirty minutes at the restaurant.' Mercedes explained drily as she swung the door open. 'I knew he wouldn't be rescuing puppies.' she muttered, before adding. 'I just don't understand why he couldn't just have cancelled.'

Mercedes stepped out into the hallway and peered down the corridor, searching for the source of the knocking and finding no one there.

'Window.' Sam supplied helpfully and Mercedes shrugged and pulled her door closed again, crossing to the window as she continued talking. 'I mean, you're a guy, how hard is it to send a text saying that you aren't going to be someplace you said you'd be? Am I wrong? Is it actually crazy hard and I'm just naturally gifted at it?' Mercedes shoved open her window angrily and peered out, the phone pressed securely to her ear as she continued. 'I mean, I tried so hard, Sam. So. Hard. Like, I know it's not cool to admit it, but I put a lot of effort into looking good tonight, and the least he could have done is show up, you know?'

Mercedes' face felt hot and tight despite the cool air blowing in through the open window but she did her best to ignore it. Crying alone in her bedroom would only make this night lamer than it already was.

'Anthony is a dick.' Sam told her, his voice echoing strangely in the earpiece.

Turning slowly, Mercedes saw Sam sitting on her bed, his hair mussed by the speed he'd obviously used to run over.

'You didn't have to come.' Mercedes told him, her voice suddenly thick and strangled as he held out his arms to her.

'Mercedes.' Sam levelled her with his " _girl, please_ " look, pursed lips and all. 'You're my best friend, and you're hurting. Where else would I be?'

This time, Mercedes didn't bother to try and stay strong as she let herself be comforted by Sam's embrace, the bitter tears she'd been holding back trickling unchecked down her cheeks. 'I just feel so stupid for even thinking he was for real.'

'Rashad is the stupid one.' Sam promised, 'And he missed out. You look beautiful, Mercedes.'  
Mercedes let out an unladylike snort of laughter. 'I already took my make up off, Sam.'

'Oh.' Sam swallowed, a blush staining his cheeks crimson as he stammered an incoherent reply, 'well, i- uh… well. You still do.' he finished in a quiet voice. 'Someday soon, Rashad is going to be kicking himself for this.'

Mercedes sighed and nodded her agreement into Sam's chest, her full heart and downcast eyes making her miss the subtle threat in Sam's words.

'Anyway, enough about that loser!' Sam announced brightly after a few seconds. 'I can't help but feel that today… is a Marvel day.'

Leaping up from the bed, Sam bent to flick open the doors to Mercedes' TV cabinet.

 _Avengers_ or _Guardians of the Galaxy_? He asked, holding up both DVDs for her perusal.

Sniffing, Mercedes felt a genuine smile light up her face as she tucked her legs under her and repositioned herself at the end of her bed.

' _Guardians_ and THEN _Avengers_.' she announced, feeling about a million times better than she had when she left the restaurant. Hopping off the bed, Mercedes followed the tall blond down the stairs with a smile on her face as he announced they needed popcorn.

/

Anthony didn't know who had done it - or why - but he DID know that he was going to murder whoever it was who had put glitter in all his body butters. It was even in his organic, handmade natural hair treatments! What self-respecting athlete walked around sparkling like some kind of Twilight vampire? Whenever he caught whoever was responsible, Anthony vowed silently as the flecks of gold and pink glitter in his hair caught the light, that person was going to wish they'd never been born.

/

Mercedes was absolutely, 100% _not_ avoiding Kurt Hummel.  
She was just lying to him.  
By omission.  
Which would admittedly be worse - except that she was making a conscious effort to not be around Kurt for long enough to get to the subject of Anthony, which meant that she never _actually_ had to talk about the date-that-never-was and _ok, yes, she was totally avoiding Kurt Hummel_.

'So… did you tell Kurt yet?' Sam voice came over Mercedes' shoulder as she left her Calculus class.

Mercedes jumped about a foot in the air and then turned narrowed eyes on Sam.  
 _'Are you reading my mind?!'_

'No… not one of my abilities.' Sam countered, scrutinising her as Mercedes' eyes darted furtively around. 'But judging by that response I'm going to guess that you haven't.'

'I'm… planning to, ok?' Mercedes insisted, lowering her voice in case Kurt magically appeared behind them. 'Eventually. It's just that… he's busy… with his dad's wedding and hanging out with Blaine and… stuff.'

Sam raised an eyebrow and Mercedes let out an exasperated sigh.

'It's just things are actually kind of good between us at the moment and I don't want to wreck it. I'll tell him when the time is right.'

Sam's other eyebrow rose to join the first.

'I will! I just… Just not yet. Ok?'

Sam just gave a non-committal shrug and changed the subject.

'Fine. So my mom told me what the ring does.'

'Quinn's ring?' Mercedes clarified, and when Sam nodded added, 'Well?'

'It "finds my soulmate".' Sam announced, and then let that statement hang there like a lead balloon.

'Well… that seems…' Mercedes fought to find the right words and eventually settled on. 'like an entirely inappropriate gift for a 17 year old.'

Sam scoffed. 'Tell me about it.'

'So… how does it work?' Mercedes prompted. 'If Quinn's wearing it now does that mean she's your soulmate?'

'Apparently not.' Sam said. 'It fits my soulmate perfectly, whereas when anyone who isn't my one true love wears it, it will grow too big for them, slip off and find its way back to me.'

Mercedes' face contorted into a grimace. 'That's…'

'Really weird, right?' Sam finished, and Mercedes nodded.  
'Really, really weird, yeah. Why would your mom give that to you?'

'Because she thought I needed the help, apparently.' Sam winced and Mercedes mouth widened into an 'O' of shared awkwardness.

'Your mom thought you could use a little help with girls?' Mercedes prompted gently, and Sam nodded.

'That's why Quinn's acting so… _heart eyes_ -y' he explained, looking uncomfortable. 'It gives off pheremones, but it wears off as soon as it becomes clear that they aren't 'the One'.

'There's something really messed up about that.' Mercedes posited, 'And yet, totally in keeping with everything I know about your family.' Sam nodded.  
'That's why as soon as the damn thing falls off Quinn I'm hiding it someplace.'

'You mean 'if'.' Mercedes corrected.

'What?'

'IF it falls off Quinn.' Mercedes insisted. 'She could be your soulmate, you know. And _you_ wanted to marry her.'

'It was the damn pheremones from the ring!' Sam shot back, looking flustered. 'I- I mean, I _like_ Quinn and everything but I don't know if… um…'

Mercedes laughed and put a comforting hand on Sam's arm. 'It's ok, Sam. I get it, we're in high school.'

Sam sighed and shot Mercedes a grateful smile. 'Thanks.'

'No problem' Mercedes smiled back, 'but we need to get going or we're going to be late for Kurt's extra glee practice.'

Sam did a double take as Mercedes sailed past him towards the choir room.

'Wait -' Sam called out as he jogged to keep up. 'He was _serious_ about that?'

'Oh, Kurt never jokes about routine or practice.' Mercedes assured him as she hurried towards the room. 'Especially not since this is for Papa Burt and Carol. He's going to drill this into us until we're doing it in our sleep.'

'That sounds awful.'

'Imagine Sandy Ryerson on steroids.'

Sam's eyes widened and he shuddered, quickening his pace to keep up with Mercedes. At least the wedding was only two days away, he reasoned. How bad could it possibly be?

 **A/N:** _Last update for a while for this one, since this is where I'm up to on Tumblr!_


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